Creative Entrepreneur 2016 Goal Planning


I am a creative entrepreneur. I make special occasion custom quilts. Today I would like to share an invaluable tool I use to create my business and personal annual goals and plans.

I am very good and planning - it is so easy to come up with numbers and plans out of the air but how do you qualify them and track them? That has been my downfall to date.

This year I feel fortunate that I stumbled across this incredible planning tool created by Lisa Jacobs called “Your Best Year, 2016” (or #yby2016).

If you are a creative entrepreneur and in the market for a productivity workbook and/or creative business planner, you definitely need this one! It can be ordered through her website HERE. I am not an affiliate of her book but I probably should be as I'm telling everyone I know about it's awesomeness!!

What I like about the exercises are that they focus on five pillars of your personal and business life. Let's be honest, we cannot feel happy in my business if our personal relationships or self-care are neglected.

The five areas to set your goals around:
1. Financial
2. Spiritual
3. Mental
4. Physical
5. Relational

Have you done your 2016 goal setting yet

This year I had the ultimate tool to get my plans on paper (the YBY 2016 planner). Then I needed to be able to break them down into monthly and daily tasks.

Presently I have a monthly planner and my goal is to use it to plan of all my blog posts and social media content.

I also have a weekly planner. In it I will track clients who have purchased custom quilts and to ensure I block enough time to get their projects completed. This system will ensure I have accurate deadlines that I promise my clients.

The third thing I’m going to do is daily planning. I find that I need to regularly plan out each day’s tasks. When I do this before bed I sleep better and often wake up with a plan to make my day even more efficient.

What Do I DO Every Day?

Do you ever have those days where you spend so much time planning that when you actually go to do it you remember all the things that you want to do and end up not getting anything complete?

Recently I downloaded the “aTimeLogger” free app to determine what I spend my time on throughout the day.

 This exercise was very insightful - I found that I spent a great deal of time on social media when I should be making things for my business. As a result, I have been able to change my focus, or catch myself when I'm falling into time-wasting habits, and focus on activities that will directly push me towards my goals.


Please tell me in the comments below, do you set goals for yourself or your career or business? If so, what tools do you use to set your annual goals and how often do you refer to them?


I originally had a Periscope on this topic. Check out the re-play video here!

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