Most handmade skincare entrepreneurs are riding solo; solopreneurs (working on their own). This makes it essential for you to learn goal-setting skills for your skin care business.
As a business made up of just one person, there are quite a number of details to keep track of and remember on a daily basis. In fact, a large percentage of skin care makers started or are starting and running their business on part-time basis.
Be it a stay-at-home-mom building your business from the ground up during the early hours of the morning and nap times, or perhaps you have a full-time job and rely on weekends to master your skin care recipes and write your business plan or balance your books. In some cases, you have experienced both of the situations above!
When you’re the only one running the show, it’s very easy to get distracted by minor details and lose sight of your long-term vision…which makes your success roll in way later than it should (if ever…).
In this article, we’ll look at effective goal-setting for your handmade skin care business so you can get a grip on your time management and engineer a more streamlined focus!
Why Set Goals as Entrepreneurs?
“I’m going to start my own business so that I can finally do WHATEVER I want WHENEVER I want!!!” Some freedom!
This might have inspired you to get the ball rolling on starting your own skin care business, but I’m sure you’ve since realized that successful entrepreneurs need to have structure! A solid structure at that! Perhaps, that structure looks like a walk in the park in your notebook, or maybe you’ve gone as far as to create that schedule for your day and week with business tasks. However, the ideas behind that task list or schedule are what will make or break you as an independent business owner.
Creating effective goals with your long-term vision in mind will ensure that even the most basic tasks throughout your day, all have a purpose and are worth your precious time.
Why your Mission Statement Should Guide Your Goals
While you set out to make some pretty great goals for your skin care business, it is also very important that you take out time to create a mission statement.
Your mission statement is your guiding light, it helps you determine what goals are essential in bringing your business vision to life.
If for instance, your mission is to ‘create a luxury skin care business that is an authority in science-backed formulations and sustainability’, you might want to consider the following goals:
Transitioning to glass packaging
Get industry accredited and certified
Grow your online presence as a means of providing social proof and trust in your brand.
As you read through these tips for your handmade skin care business below, ensure your mission statement is at the back of your mind to keep you on track!
Consider S.M.A.R.T. Goals?
One of the most effective ways to set a business goal is to use the acronym ‘S.M.A.R.T.’ to help you avoid setting vague or hard to track goals.
Let’s walk through the acronym and look at specific examples of how skin care entrepreneurs can incorporate this into their startup plans with laser focus and an increased likelihood of completion.
Initial Goal: I want to turn my passion for handmade skin care into an online business.
S – Specific: you want to ensure that each goal is as clear and precise as possible. Avoid goals that are generic or abstract, make your goals as concise as possible:
Eg: I want to launch my skin care line on Jumia by November.
M – Measurable: you will need to be able to track your progress on a regular basis. It can be weekly or bimonthly, whatever works best for you. It’s difficult to stay motivated when you can't easily keep track of your progress.
You can measure your results by figuring out what success looks like to you in the long run. What data do you employ in tracking your progress towards improving your business?
Creating a measurable goal is important because, it enables you track how far you’ve come and how much work is required of you still. Every actionable goal requires a timeline for completion. A basic rule to follow is to aim for a schedule as short as possible or one that can be broken into smaller units while being realistic. Eg: I want to launch my skin care store with a minimum number of 30 different products.
A – Attainable: this is a reminder to be realistic. Building castles in the air will do you absolutely no good and will set you up for disappointment. Set attainable goals. Set yourself up for success by choosing goals that are within your power to achieve, this will help keep you motivated and confident.
Take cognizance of where you currently are when identifying parts of your goals that are attainable. What resources do you have at your disposal? How long will it take to set up everything before working towards attaining the goal?
Eg : I have a 9 to 5 and therefore, I can't afford to work everyday. I can only dedicate 5hours each on Saturday and Sunday and everyday on my lunch break.
R – Relevant: goals that have value for you or your skin care business. Things that are of importance to you, personally or professionally.
When creating relevant goals, it is crucial you think about what matters truly to you and what will be most beneficial for your business in the long run. Every goal should contribute toward your success. It is expediate here you refer to your mission statement, and ensure your goal directly supports it.
Eg: If your mission statement is to open a store that allows customers make enquiries and request custom orders. A strong online presence is perfect for that. Therefore, this goal is relevant to our mission statement.
T – Time-bound: these are goals that are time sensitive, there's a deadline for completion. This can be motivating because there is a sense of urgency and importance attached, on the flipside it can be nerve racking due to the pressure to meet up with set deadline.
When you write down time-bound goals, there’s an instant feeling of pressure to get the job done in the limited timeframe given.
Eg: I want to have my store running by Black Friday weekend. This means you have to be fully operational by end of October.
Finally:
My store is going to be fully operational on Jumia with a minimum of 30 products by Black Friday (November). To achieve this, I will need to work everyday during my lunch break and at least 5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays to achieve this.
Why This Goal-Setting Is So Effective
Goals setting is important if anything meaningful must be achieved. Smart goals are effective in motivating you to achieve your chosen vision by helping you think through the finer details, which will aid in the formation of an action plan that can be broken into smaller achievable units.
Your main goal is really just a large, long term goal or a bigger picture that requires breaking down into smaller units or goals.
Let’s consider this example: launch store on Jumia with 30 products by Black Friday(main goal) Smaller goals(let's assume it's February):
Have 30 products completed by June
30 products/5 months = 6 products/month (February – June)
2 products a week (formulation, testing and feedback)
July: Make Labels, source for bottles and package
August: Product shoot(photos and videos) and start social media presence
September: Create Product Listings (Sales Pages) and beauty website (About Page, Profile, Banner)
October: Intensify social media presence
November: Launch and promote!
W can break this down further:
February (week 1): Lip gloss
February (week 2): Vitamin C serum
February (week 3): Facial scrub
February (week 4): Face toner
And so on… entrepreneurs can use this example to plan out what should be done at every particular time. There are a number of ways you can carry out your main smart goal and break it into smaller short term (quarterly, weekly, monthly, daily, hourly) goals.
The point is to use your smart goal to fill your to-do list and schedule with specific and time sensitive items that leads to the achievement of your business mission in a dedicated manner.
Goal-Setting Ideas for your Handmade Skin Care Business
The simplest way to create a goal is to ask yourself questions that take you from vague ideas and dreams to a solid plan with quantifiable results (that support your mission statement!!!).
Consider the following examples of questions to ask yourself that can assist you in your goal-setting for your handmade skin care business:
Do you want better engagement on your social media pages?
Do you want an increased social media following?
Do you want higher traffic to your website?
Are you in need of more customer reviews?
Do you want to spend less time on your business?
What does success look like to you?
Do you have specific production goals?
Do you want to start wholesaling?
Do you have monthly/yearly sales target?
Do you want to increase your repeat customer rate?
Do you have a specific launch date?
Are you willing to quit your day job to be a full-time skin care maker?
Next up, break down these ideas into details that are:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Relevant
T – Time-bound
Go right ahead to your favorite scheduling tool and be intentional about planning your time. As you develop your S.M.A.R.T. goals, you’ll realize that some things will take up more time than you earlier thought, and others less.
To ensure you're still on track, carry out monthly/quarterly review. As you forge ahead however, it’s perfectly fine to readjust your plans and goals based on real-life happenings!
You've got this, we are rooting hard for you!
I hope you found this insightful? Don't forget to leave us a comment, we will love to hear from you.
Thank you for reading!
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