The Trouble with Targets

Every year, I sign up for the Leeds 10k. It gives me a goal to work towards, which gives me the motivation I need to go out and run. And every year, I set myself a target pace, then I train to achieve my target pace.

But even though I put the work in, there's always a chance I won't achieve my target.

I could break my leg the week before and be completely out of action. I could fall ill on the day and not be able to push as hard as I need to. Someone could trip me up. The weather conditions could make it too hard to get the pace I need. The race could be cancelled. Any number of things could prevent me from achieving my goal.

And that's the trouble with most targets. You never really have complete control over them.

I could say I want to earn £X amount per month, but if I don't get any clients one month, I'm not going to meet that target.

I could say I want to get 500 new email subscribers this year, but I can't force people to subscribe, and I can't prevent people from unsubscribing.

That doesn't mean targets are pointless. Targets give you a clear goal to work towards. But it's up to you to put yourself in the best position possible to achieve them.

So focus on the things you can control.

I can't control whether I break my leg, but I can control whether I stick to my training plan.

I can't control whether I earn £X per month, but I can control my pricing, and I can control my marketing and sales process.

I can't control how many people sign up for my email, but I can control how well I promote it and whether I make the content good enough to retain subscribers.

And if I put maximum effort into the things I can control, I'm more likely to meet my targets.

If you want to meet your targets, you need to figure out what you can do to put yourself in the best position possible for success.

Are you setting yourself up for financial success?

Everyone has different goals and targets, but when it comes to business, most people have a target for income.

As a minimum, you need to earn enough to cover your costs. But let's be honest, most of us don't want to work for free, so as well as covering our costs, we want to earn enough to give us the lifestyle we want.

So even if you don't have a specific income target, you'll have a rough idea of how much money you need to make. And you need to make sure you're putting yourself into the best position to achieve that.

Many freelancers struggle to meet their financial goals because their pricing is too low and/or their marketing doesn't generate enough leads and/or they can't convert enough of their leads into paying clients.

Let's say your target is £5000 per month and the thing you sell is £200, so you need to 25 new clients per month.

It takes you an average of 10 hours to deliver each £200 thing, so a total of 250 hours per month to serve 25 clients.

Your marketing generates 50 enquiries per month and you spend an hour speaking to each of those enquiries and putting together a quote, so a total of 50 hours per month.

You manage to convert 50% of those enquiries into paying clients, so you get your 25 new clients per month.

But all of the above means you need to consistently generate 50 enquiries a month with a conversion rate of at least 50%. And you need to work an average of 300 hours per month (50 hours dealing with 50 enquiries and 250 hours delivering your thing to 25 clients).

In a 30-day month, that works out at 10 hours per day every single day. And on top of working those 10-hour days, you need time to do enough marketing to generate at least 50 enquiries every month.

That's not realistic, and it's not sustainable.

You haven't put yourself in the best position for success. You've made it extremely difficult (if not impossible) to meet your target.

But now let's say the thing you sell is £1000. It still takes 10 hours to deliver, but now you only need 5 new customers per month to hit your £5000 target.

Even if your marketing only generates 20 enquiries per month, and your conversion rate drops to 25%, you could still meet your target. Plus you'd have cut your hours from 300 per month to 70 per month (20 hours dealing with 20 enquiries and 50 hours delivering your thing to 5 clients).

You have plenty of time for marketing and you could deliver an even better quality of service to your clients because you're not overloaded with work.

You'd have a better chance of success. And you wouldn't be burning yourself out trying to meet unrealistic targets.

So if you have financial targets, revisit them.

Does your pricing put you in the best position to achieve these targets?

Does your marketing generate enough enquiries?

Are your sales skills strong enough to convert at the rate you need to?

If the answer to any of those questions is no, then you need to take action. You need to manage the things you can control to put yourself in the best position for success.

And if you're struggling to do that, check out my one-to-one support services and let me help you get your business on track.