Setting goals in life are often what drives us to achieve above and beyond what we initially thought possible. Making big plans for a brighter future in both our personal and professional lives is a useful tool, and provides purpose and direction. But big goals can also be a burden, if they feel unachievable.

Are the goals you set for your small business weighing you down, rather than motivating you? Do you want to grow your small business but also have more time for your family and friends (and yourself)? This is where milestones can help. Breaking goals into small steps that are more easily achieved will set you on a path to a more successful business and a better life, without the pressure.

Know what you want to achieve

Tradies are, by nature, a practical group. They have a knack for knowing how to get the job done, and done well. This same mindset can be useful when laying down goals for your small business. After all, success and growth come from knowing what you want to achieve and how you want the future to play out. The next step is creating the conditions necessary to make those goals a reality. And the best way to do that? Turn your goals into milestones.

Milestones are, essentially, bite size goals. They work well as short term goals for small business owners as they are more easily achieved and provide motivation towards that bigger, long term goal. Whether you want to expand your business, manage your team more effectively or just spend more time at home with your family, breaking goals into smaller steps, or milestones, can make it all achievable.

So, how do you create milestones and take the pressure off?

Break it down and focus on what you can do today

Say one of your small business goals is to market your business more effectively. Maybe you feel like the only way to do this is to create a brand new marketing campaign, and what tradie has the time to put one of those together.

So, in this case, what achievable milestone can you set for yourself? It could simply be to get more happy customers talking about you and how great you are. And one of the best ways to do that? Start building positive online reviews that create that precious word of mouth recommendation that every small business loves. This could be as simple as setting yourself the task of routinely making a follow up call after every job, asking customers to post a review of your business online. Nothing huge yet doing so will mean more people know who you are and by default your small business gains more exposure – and new customers.

This is an example of how creating incremental goals can make those bigger, long term goals a reality. And it’s how milestones work.

We all need more time, and GeoNext can help

Breaking goals into smaller steps sounds easy, but how often do you find yourself without enough hours in the day to do even that? Life as a tradie and small business owner is hectic. It’s not just the job itself but everything that goes along with it. From issuing quotes, managing a schedule and a team, all the way through to invoicing and payments. All of these are time consuming but essential to your business.

One of the biggest problems can be trying to juggle all these moving parts separately. This is where job management systems, like GeoNext, can help. GeoNext brings together each time consuming task onto one, easy to manage platform where tradies can oversee every process at the click (or a tap) of a button. From generating quotes to creating jobs, allocating staff, invoicing and accounting, it’s all there in the one place. The software is so effective that customers have reported saving up to 14 hours a week. And what does all that extra time mean? A better work life balance and a small business well on its way to achieving its goals. One milestone at a time.

Keen to give GeoNext a go? Sign up for a free 14 day trial, or book a demo where one of our specialists will be in touch to discuss your business needs