- Start with three goals: growth, finance and operations.
- Each one has to be objective. A number you either hit or you don’t.
- Plan for this year. Not a three-year plan, not a ten-year plan.
- Every idea your team pitches has to move one of them meaningfully.
On this page
Start with threeThey have to be objectiveJust for the next yearSomebody owns each areaThen work on them every monthA quick checkIf you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there. That is why setting your goals is foundational to everything else. It is what creates alignment, and it is what every idea in your business gets measured against.
Start with three
Every business, no matter what you run, can be put under three areas. Growth is your sales and marketing. Finance is your money. Operations is your engine.
You set one goal for each of those. I call them your Big Three. Unbreakable OS lets you set up to five if your business really needs more, but start with three. It doesn’t really matter what your three are. What matters is that you have them and that everybody knows them.
They have to be objective
Your goals have to be objective. Five million in top-line revenue. Twenty-five percent net profit margin. One hundred percent of our product delivery automated. Each goal is clear, measurable and binary. At the end of the year, you hit it or you didn’t.
Here is another set, from a demo I give: thirty-three percent net profit margin for finance, one hundred million dollars in annual revenue for growth, and one hundred percent of emails automated for operations. Different numbers, same idea. Anyone in the company can read them and know exactly where we’re going.
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.
Just for the next year
Set your goals just for the next year. Not a three-year plan, not a ten-year plan. Dreaming in three- and five-year plans sounds nice, but it’s not effective.
Dream in decades, but plan in months. Think about what the world is going to look like five years from now, and then plan for the next twelve months. Once your goals are set, they don’t move during the year. What changes every month is the work you do to hit them.
Somebody owns each area
Somebody owns the domain of growth. Then somebody owns each priority you work on under it. Those are often two different people. They can be the same person if you’re a solo entrepreneur. The area owner decides which ideas get approved. The priority owner gets it done.
Then work on them every month
Once your goals are set, you run on monthly cycles. Every month, you want to be doing at least one thing that moves you meaningfully toward each of those goals, so that you are moving toward them with purpose and not aimlessly solving whatever problem came up this week.
It doesn’t mean that’s all you’re doing. It just means that at a minimum, you’re doing something each month that drives you toward those big goals.
A quick check
- Is it a number?
- Will you know on December 31 whether you hit it?
- Is it for this year, not someday?
- Could a new hire read it and understand where the company is going?
