Why Goal Setting is Important when Starting a Home Based Business

Most people start a home based or networking business because of the opportunity for financial freedom. To create a home based business means low overhead, lower costs, no employees, and the chance to build a network that you can help achieve their wants and at the same time, achieve your wants. Home based businesses, although misunderstood as an 'easy way' to earn a living, is simple, but is not easy. But to decide on starting one could be the greatest day of your life.

Most home based business fail for one simple reason. Goals are not written. But it is not as simple as writing down goals, how to attain them and the preparation to achieve specific goals need to be determined. Many people go to a 4 year college in order to start a career - most failures in home based business are because of the lack of education on how to succeed. And the first step is to write down goals.

Don't just keep goals in your head. If you have a five year plan, get it down on paper and stop battling the fact that keeping it in your head is good enough. Many people have yet to write down their goals that they have to struggle to remember what they are because it is still somewhere lost in their memory. The key word - lost.

This is why so many New Year's resolution fall by the way side every year. Because the idea of their resolution is a great idea, but if it is in their head it only remains an idea. If people wrote down their New Year's Resolutions and reviewed them every day, they will begin to hold themselves accountable for their goals. New Year's Resolutions are also not specific like: "I'm going to join a health club". This is specific: "I'm going to lose 10 pounds a month by working out 3 days a week and by sticking to a healthy diet plan." Is specific!

Those who wrote their goals accomplished significantly more than those who did not write their goals. (Gail Matthews Written Goal Study Dominican University). J. Paul Getty said long ago that in life, if you don't know where you're going, you're sure to end up somewhere else.

Goal setting is important when starting a home based business, but they need to be each of these 5 important steps in order to be attainable!

1) Written Down
2) Specific
3) Measurable
4) Realistic yet Challenging
5) Date Oriented.

Why is it so hard for people to write down their goals? People don't write down goals because they have no belief that they will achieve them. If they don't write them down, then if they don't achieve anything, then they won't be accountable for failing.

In the book, "Rich Dad: The Business School For People Who Like Helping People." It states: "People who dream small dreams continue to live lives as small people."

If your dream is to find financial freedom through a home based or network marketing opportunity, you probably do not want to be a slave to corporate America. Most people who work do not want to be a slave to corporate America but are unwilling to be open minded to a network marketing or home based opportunity - yet they complain all the time about the work they hate and their horrible job. Successful home based business owners will say proudly that they were happy that they were 'open' to something more and they wrote down their goals.

Goals need to be:

1) Written Down

Again, if its in your head its just an idea. You get tons of ideas. Your ideas get lost in your head. Pretty soon, you're working on some other idea and have yet, or will ever, accomplish the one you thought of before. Write them down and keep them with you! Review them daily! Feel guilty when you are not doing anything about them and take action to work towards them!

2) Specific

"I want to be rich" is not a specific goal - a person can feel rich with a $100 bill in his pocket. One might feel rich with $100 in their bank account. Be specific: "I want my profits to be $5,000 a month by the year (fill in the blank). This is a long term goal - be specific with the shorter ones. "Next month I will make $1,000". These are specific - make them attainable and not impossible!

3) Measurable

If you make your success measurable by the amount of money you make, then by all means, measure your wealth and set goals to achieve levels of financial freedom that you want to make. If you measure your success by your lifestyle, the relationships you have, the fulfillment of your daily life because of owning a home based business, then of course, take a look back every 90 days and see how far you've come. If you are happier at home than at an office job working 60 hours a week, you have succeeded!

4) Realistic yet Challenging

At age 40, setting a specific goal to play for the New York Yankees when you haven't picked up a ball in 20 years is not realistic. It may be challenging, but it is definitely not realistic and is a waste of time. Making a million dollars in a year owning a home based business is possible, but is it realistic given the time and effort you are willing to give? It might not be. Make your goals specific, but realistic so that you can achieve them. Make them challenging enough that you actually have to work hard to create them, and then measure your success to see how far you've come and if so, make the goals bigger and more challenging!

5) Date Oriented.

I have a plan. I have a goal. Map it out and give it a date! Check your progress every single day. Sometimes you will find you are off track, but get back on track and continue driving to your destination to financial freedom! If you set a date, you have a time frame, a ticking clock, and you can make it a desperate need to fulfill your goals by that date. And if you don't, that's okay too - now you know what to do in the next 90 days to achieve it!

Goal setting is extremely important when starting a home based business! Without it, you may find your ideas are all over the place, they aren't specific, measurable, realistic and maybe too challenging or even - not challenging enough!

The greatest day of your life is the one day where you finally decide your life is your own! We were given a choice. The choices you make create an amazing journey. It is up to you where you get to determine the quality of it. Live the next five years on purpose, with a purpose, and with clear cut goals. Don't live it by accident. Now is the time. Imagine the possibilities. Make a difference, do what you love, and stop staying to yourself, "I wish life was easier", say, "I wish I were better!"

Follow your dreams then, determine that you will achieve them and finally - find a way!