Episode 9 A+A podcast: Business goals - how do you decide what to align to?

Business goals - how do you decide what to align to?

I'm so glad you asked! This is something I absolutely love to work on with my clients. You might come back to this one later and write down some of your own goals, because an important part of the process is getting clarity on what you want. What's actually important to you, not to your peers, not to your mentor, not to somebody else in your life. What's actually important to you.

Aligning to business goals is something that we focus on a lot in my Align and Attract group program. If you're not in the program yet, it's fine because there's so much value in this process of just getting clarity on what it is that you want. And if you do want to align to your goals within the Align and Attract program, it's there for you whenever you are ready to join.

So, let's get clear...

Clarity is one of the keys to alignment... And so is self-awareness.

Clarity and self-awareness really go hand-in-hand in this process. To create your goals and to start to align to your goals you need to be able to define what it is you want, and you need to have that level of self-awareness to be able to look at your life. To understand what is actually possible for you at this time, what works for you in relation to your own priorities and your own values. And what it is that you are willing to do to make your goals happen. Or whether it's more of a priority to go with the flow. To have your goals just sitting there, maybe more so in the background to create the alignment - but then to flow.

So, let's dive in. When you're creating business goals, the first thing I'd recommend is to focus on a specific area. We might focus on money. It's such a big one for so many people in business. It's something you tend to spend a bit of time thinking about. And income goals are something that come up for people all the time. So where I would encourage you to start when you're thinking about your business goals is to ask yourself the question: What is actually happening now? Where is it at? How much are you actually making, for example, on a monthly basis? How do you feel about the money flow that is currently in your business and in your life? Because of course, money may flow from other sources in your life as well, for example through a job, through your family unit or potentially other ways also.

What's the feeling behind wanting more?

The next thing I would like you to ask... How do you really feel about that? Does it feel expansive and light? Does it feel unlimited? Or does it feel heavier? More congested? Does it bring up anxiety or fear or worry? How are you feeling about money in your life at the moment and your income at the moment? And then maybe - which is something I find quite common - a sense of scarcity around that, or a sense of wanting more or wanting to grab or to reach for more. Of course, it's fine to want more, but I'm interested in knowing what's the feeling behind that? Because you could want more, but it could be like: This is fun. I want to create more because I am excited too. And I'm excited about the impact I could have and about what that means for the transformation, for my clients... Or it could be more coming from a place of fear - and only you know that - it comes back to the self-awareness I mentioned before.

The next thing I would like you to do is to start to switch it around. If there were any negatives that came up for you, any fear or limitation or worry in how it was that you were feeling - this is a good place to start. You can ask yourself - how would you like to feel in relation to your money? That might be: Safe, secure, expansive, free, prosperous. So think for yourself, what would you love to be feeling? So your existing feelings, your existing limited thoughts, potentially around money, can give you that guide to tell you what it is that you want. And that becomes some of the goals that you'd want to align yourself with.

What would feel sustainable? What would feel sufficient or indeed abundant or prosperous?

Think about what is happening now, and what the actual state of the flow is and what you're experiencing. And again, if there's anything around that, that you're not feeling comfortable with. Or isn't sufficient or sustainable at the moment. What would you want to shift that into? What would you like to be noticing and experiencing in relation to money in your business and in your life? For example: I always have enough money for all of my needs and my desires. There is an abundant flow of money into my business.

Ask yourself: What would I love to see and experience in my business and life in relation to money? It could be around support. Money's always supporting me. I feel abundantly supported by money. Or: I feel abundantly supported by life. It's your emotions and feelings that you're having. And also what you're noticing in your life that's going to help you to discern what it is that you would like to open up into - and what you desire.

What do you need in order to experience that, create that, or feel that?

It could be: I want to feel like there is an abundant flow of money into my business. And then what do I actually need in relation to that? I need to know how to create an abundant flow into my business. I need to set up systems that support an abundant flow of money into my business. I need to take action that is aligned with creating this abundant flow. I need to create enough action, or I need to take the right actions. Perhaps I need to be consistent... It could be: I get excited about a goal, or I want something. But then if you take an action or two actions or three actions, and you're not there yet, or it's taking longer than you might've desired, it's like you then drop those actions. And then you're looking for something else, onto the next shiny object. You're just not taking consistent action that is going to support you to create goals.

Ask yourself: Do I need to stick with certain strategies? So that's in line with the consistency. Do I really need to stay beautifully connected with my clients and understand what it is they want and need? You need to be able to discern: Where are my gaps? What would I need to be able to support me to feel like I want to feel around that money, goal or desire within my business? Next, let's think about specific goals. So it might be you want an abundant flow of money into your business. And yes, you want to feel free, expansive, a sense of safety or security around money, but you, of course are likely to have some specific goals of around what that actually looks like in terms of amounts of money. And that might be a monthly goal, or it might be an annual goal.

There's nothing wrong with dreaming big.

So how do you decide what it is that you are going to align to when it comes to those specifics? I think there's nothing wrong with dreaming big. Lots of my clients love to do that. But what I also love to see is when we're able to go underneath that and look at some of the specifics and the foundations of our business and the structures within our business, and to ask ourselves: Do these aspects actually support my goal? Because that's where we can focus our energy.

For example, so many times I've seen clients say: I have this income goal. Let's just say it's $100,000 for this year. It's $500,000 for the year after, it's $2,000,000 for the year after that. Now, there is nothing wrong with having those really beautiful, big, expansive goals. But if you've been in business for a while, you will already understand the difference between a business that is making $100,000 in terms of the pricing, the number of clients that you're working with, the types of structures and automations and processes that you need to have in place. Then, if your business is at that $500,000 level compared to if your business is at that $2,000,000 level - that is a really huge difference.

It's not just a difference in the amount of income, it's actually the whole structure of your business is potentially going to be very different.

It's not like you're going to be working five times harder to go from a $100,000 business to a $500,000 business. It's going to be many other things that are going to change and evolve. So if you're wanting to have a stretch goal that is quite expansive compared to where you are right now, that's totally fine. But what I would love you to start to think about is: what does that mean in relation to what it is that I'm going to be learning and growing into? Yes. In relation to beliefs - it's a really important part of it. Your mindset definitely plays a part. Of course, if you don't believe that you can do it, if you've got limiting money beliefs, those things of course are going to hold you back.

This is also a strategy issue or a strategy question. And if you haven't listened to my episode: Do you have a Strategy problem or do you have an Alignment problem? I really encourage you to listen to that one. That's episode eight. Start to reflect on this. If you're wanting to have this expansive goal, then what needs to change? What needs to grow? That's what you're going to create some goals around. There might be things you need to learn, maybe people you need to work with in order to be able to start to get some of those pieces of the puzzle in place so that you have the right structure and strategy to work towards that bigger income goal.

So, what needs to change?

It might be that your reach needs to expand. And that might include the number of people that are following on social media - or maybe not. It might include the number of people that are on your mailing list. That is a pretty big one. The number of people who are accessing your free trainings and seeing your sales pages when you're actually doing a launch, those things are really important, if you're wanting to increase an income goal, and you're wanting to expand your reach, you may need to look at conversion. You'll want to know: What kind of conversion do I have at the moment when I'm actually doing a launch? What kind of percentage of people who see my page are actually enrolling and paying in my program? Once you know that kind of information, it makes it a little easier when you want to scale.

It could be strategy - having the right kinds of strategies in place to meet this bigger income goal. And do you have the right structure in your business? I can't tell you the number of times when I've been working with people or been involved in conversations, and there is this big income goal. But when you look into it, the business structure as it is, so the way that the money flows into the business, the way that you work, the way people can pay to actually engage with your business. But that structure does not allow the kind of income that you desire. You'd just have to be so incredibly busy. And in fact, even if you were sometimes working 80 hours a week, you would not be able to achieve that income goal.

So, it's actually a structural issue you need to look at.

I don't want you to get overwhelmed by that. And in fact, what you might do is just start to pop it in there. So let's just say, you've got this goal to one day have a million dollar business. You don't need to sit here and stress about it if you're making a $100,000 at the moment, but you can start to align to some goals heading in that direction of having a million dollar business.

So not just: I have a million dollar business, and I have these really positive beliefs around money, but my business structure is aligned with having a million dollar business. My business strategy is aligned with having a million dollar business. I have the reach and I am growing the number of people who might be in my community and the people that I engage with and who feel connected with me. You can have goals like that. I'm really improving my ability to convert people who really enjoy connecting with me into paying clients, for example.

So, lots for us to think about. Just to quickly go back through... This all starts with clarity. It's getting clarity on what it is that you really want. And one of the ways you can do that is really focus on what it is that is happening now, get honest with yourself about what's happening now and how you actually feel, then switching that around. What would you prefer to be happening? How would you like to be feeling? And what do you need in order to feel that, see that, and experience that? What do you actually need to be doing? And then focusing on some of those specific goals, definitely have those specific goals around income. And then rather than letting it just go off into the realm of fantasy - I want to have this million dollar business or whatever the amount is - but without any deeper thinking around that, really asking yourself: What would that mean? What am I actually working towards?

This does not have to happen overnight...

This is something else I see... We can sometimes feel like if we don't know how to do this in the next year, we can lose a bit of motivation and energy. Try to see it as something that you are on track and working towards. But the length of time it may take to get there may be a little bit longer. It may not be that instantaneous internet success. You can actually be more strategic and work towards it in a real and grounded way and just see it as this is something you're on track for. I'm continuing to develop my beliefs, my mindset, my capabilities, my skill, and my understanding of the strategies that I will need in order to create that goal and to achieve that type of impact in my business.

If you want to go further, take a look at my Align + Attract course at alignandattract.com. I would love to support you in my Align + Attract community.