#80 - Sewing the Seeds of Love - Set Business Goals to Match Your Values

In this episode, I discuss the importance of goal setting for creative entrepreneurship. Drawing parallels between goal setting and preparing soil for a garden, I emphasize the need for alignment with personal values and decision-making to drive business success.

I introduce a step-by-step approach to goal setting, starting with personal goals before transitioning to business goals. Practical exercises and worksheets are provided to encourage entrepreneurs to integrate personal and business values into their goals for greater clarity and effectiveness.

Highlighting models like SMART, GROW, and WWHW, I emphasize specificity, measurability, achievability, relevance, and timeliness in goal setting. Through examples across various business aspects, I demonstrate how goals can be tailored to individual needs and values.

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BEST QUOTE FROM THE EPISODE

"It's crucial to integrate personal and business values for clarity and effectiveness." 

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Chapters

• 0:10 Setting Personal and Business Goals
• 18:31 Setting and Achieving Business Goals
• 29:05 Support and Engagement for Pattern Shift

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

you're dreaming of getting a full income doing what you love every day, but in reality it feels like you are drowning in your to-do list and every day is a fight against getting even the most basic things done. How do you pull yourself away from busy work and working in your business and start working on your business With the help of setting goals? That's the answer In the realm of creative entrepreneurship. Goals aren't just a luxury. They're the compass guiding your journey. They're the milestones that not only shape your business but also resonate deeply with your identity, infusing it with purpose and driving both to greater heights. Think of them as your strategic roadmap, your meticulously crafted plan for success.

Speaker 1: 1:01

It's spring and I have been busy getting the soil in my vegetable garden ready to start sowing. Sowing with an O. It's kind of confusing, isn't it, if you do a textile craft show, sowing the seeds. I have spent a few months collecting my kitchen scraps in my Bokashi buckets and I then spread it in my garden and topped it off with some leaf compost. Last year, we built a pile of garden waste and, without really knowing much about it, turned it into another type of compost. We added a layer of leaf compost to that, and now I have two areas of my garden ready for sowing in the upcoming month. We're building our vegetable garden on a base of building materials. Our house is three years old and we had to actively start making a healthy and solid base for our veggies. This took some decision-making, some trial and error and still is a lot of trial and error, and it took also some tapping into our values. Are we making or buying compost and if so, what kind? What kind of seeds? Will we sow Organic or will we buy small plants and plant them? Are they going to be organic? Making decisions about soil and seeds and planting is the best metaphor for goal setting. It's the first layer of your future to come, and in a few months you'll be able to measure the success of the decisions you have made now. When you make decisions that are aligned with your values, it makes all the difference. It makes it better, easier and more fun and effective to start working towards reaching your goals. If you want to learn more about the plans for my garden and how it's going, sign up for the Yawal community. We actually have a garden group space, because it seems like textile crafts and gardens are a great combo, so you're very welcome to join.

Speaker 1: 3:11

But now onto the actual topic of today goal setting. So how can you set your goals while staying true to yourself and what matters most to you? Hi, my name is Saskia and welcome to Pattern Shifts. Are you running a textile craft business or dreaming of starting one? Whether you are trying to make a living or something extra on the side, turning from crafter to business owner can be a steep learning curve. It doesn't have to be With 16 years of experience in running small businesses in textile crafts and a drive to build a solid alternative to fast fashion.

Speaker 1: 3:50

My mission is to provide you with no bullshit, actionable exercises and strategies in a language that makes sense to you, that you can implement right away, so you can organize, build and grow your business. Don't burn out before you get started. Build a solid base with the help of Pattern Shift Podcast and the Yavol community and its programs. So in this episode we'll be talking about personal goal setting, what steps to take to set your business goals, and I will share a few goal setting models and some examples of goals. We'll talk about the importance of reflection and planning, and by the end of the episode, you'll hopefully have a little bit more clarity in how you can set your goals for your business and you'll know about the importance of integrating personal and business values into your goals importance of integrating personal and business values into your goals and we'll have some practical exercises and worksheet for you to download as a bonus. So are you ready to get started Now?

Speaker 1: 4:57

Before we start, don't forget to sign up for the Patent Shift updates on email and the Yavel Business Circle newsletter so that you can get creative business tips and insights. Go ahead, you can do that now, while you're listening. Just go to the show notes and it's easy and done in a few seconds. So now let's get into today's episode. It's always a good idea to work out your personal goals before you work on your business goals. In the first module of our Business Circle program, we focus completely on our personal needs, values, goals and boundaries the groundwork for some solid and healthy soil to sow in. You can listen to episode 69, prioritize you Crafting a Healthy Business with Personal Intentions. To learn a little bit more about that.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Today I will be focusing on the next step your business goals. We will talk about three steps to get to your goals. One, taking a time picture. Two, aligning your values and values. And three, zooming in to help you actually get more clear on your goals. I've got not one but two worksheets ready for you to download in the show notes. All of the work we are doing today is a taste of what we do in the Business Circle program. The next cohort will start in September, so you can sign up for the waitlist via yavlmyflowdeskcom slash episode 80. And 80 is the number eight and zero. I will repeat it once more yavlmyflowdeskcom slash episode 80. Travelmyflowdeskcom slash episode 80.

Speaker 1: 6:49

First, let me give you a short differentiation between resolutions, intentions, plans and goals. And if you want to do a little bit more of a deeper dive into that, I love the article Plans vs Goals vs Resolutions vs Intentions by Ryder Carroll, the inventor of the bullet journal. He has a great way of explaining the differences and this is very helpful not only in determining what goals actually are, but also give us more tools for change. So I'm just going to be a little bit short about this, to give us a little bit of a start. Resolutions A resolution is a commitment to an outcome. You can say it's the want, and if you would put that into a sentence, it will be. I am going to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah Intentions. An intention is a commitment to a process or the why, and in a sentence that would be I want to, because plans, plans are the definition of a process, the how I am taking action in this way, and goals are the definition of an outcome, the what I have achieved this particular target or thing with these particular criteria by this particular time. So now that you know a little bit more about what goals actually are, let's go into the next step.

Speaker 1: 8:27

There are some models that you can use to set your goals. You've probably heard of the first one before. It's called the SMART model, and SMART is an acronym. S stands for specific and clearly defined, m stands for measurable progress. A stands for achievable small-scale goals, r is relevant goals to your current life, t is time-related with set endpoints. So this model is the most well-known. It was first published by George T Doran in 1981.

Speaker 1: 9:16

And what you're basically doing is answering these questions Be specific, what exactly will you accomplish Then? Make it measurable. How will you know when you've reached this goal? Let's say, I want to have a thousand downloads each week for this podcast. That is a measurable goal, achievable. Is achieving this goal realistic, with effort and commitment. Have you got the resources to achieve this goal and, if not, how will you get them? This takes a little bit of thinking through. Then, relevant why is it significant to you? And timely when will this goal be achieved? I want to have a thousand downloads per week by the end of the year, so that means that by the end of the year, I can see if I have accomplished my goals by making it measurable and timely. And when you look at achievable, you have to think it through. How can I do this? What steps do I need to take? Is it realistic? Because there's a difference between setting a goal and having a dream.

Speaker 1: 10:40

Another type of model is the GROW model. Another type of model is the GROW model, and G stands for goal what do you want to do? What's your ultimate aim? R stands for reality when are you now and what barriers prevent your objective. The O is for options what can you do and what are your resources? And the W is will. What will you do? How can you start making changes to achieve your goal? As you can see, there's a lot of overlap in these two different models. What you can do is you can replay this and take notes and start writing things out for yourself in your journal. It will be very helpful to get insights for yourself.

Speaker 1: 11:26

And the last goal model is the WWHW model, which doesn't sound as smart but it is, and I kind of like this one. It feels simple and easy to get going with your goal setting when you use this model. It's basically the what, why, how and when model. So what is the outcome you are trying to reach? Why is this important to you and why do you want it? How, in detailed steps, do you plan to make it happen? And when? What is the timeline and when is the deadline? To me this feels like the most doable, productive, effective, fast model you could use. So Just start answering the what, why, how and when questions for the specific things you want to achieve with your business. But before we actually can set our goals and get started on that, we'll first have to take a look at where we are today, and for that I like to do this exercise in the business circle that is called make a time picture Before you start.

Speaker 1: 14:14

Sometimes it's good to take a walk and think about this or put pen to paper, let the ink flow, start writing or grab your latest project, start knitting or sewing and just get into this vibe of inspiration and thinking about this before you actually start writing. You can print this exercise, by the way, because I made it into in a worksheet and I have the link in the show notes for you. There's a couple of prompts in there that you can also write down into your journal if you would like to do that. So what we actually do is we take a small time stamp or a time picture where you kind of look in the mirror, you're honest and you look at where you are now as a business owner and you think about what you want to become in the future. Don't overthink it too much. It's just another way of looking at your current place and your vision for the future. You can print this out, hang it on your wall or your fridge and just have a general inspirational kind of visual and speaks to your inspiration and to your emotions. So what you do is you fill out the questions in your worksheet. You find two pictures that reflect now and reflect your dreams, and then what you can do is you can share them with me via email or a voice recording or via Instagram at underscore Yevon.

Speaker 1: 15:54

Underscore pattern shift. I am super curious about what you will come up with. So, to get your thought process going a little bit more, here are some other ideas, some more practical and some little less inspirational, a little bit more business-like. So you probably run a small business, usually without a team, but I think it's still a good idea to have a look at the specific topics that I'm going to mention, even though they might seem a little bit big businessy to you. You might have somebody that helps you now and then at a show or in your shop, or your goal is actually to get a team. All businesses should have finance and cash flow goals, even if they're really small. I know they're scary terms. They are for me as well, but let's just go through these different areas where you can connect your goals to Leadership and management, team and staff, systems and processes, finance and cash flow. Finance and cashflow, new business and sales, marketing and promotion, creativity and new products we love this one, don't we? Referrals and customer service. So I'm trying to get some examples going.

Speaker 1: 17:24

When it comes to leadership and management, how will you prepare for a team that is coming? What role will you take? What kind of leader do you want to be if you're in that kind of setting? And when it comes to team and staff, what is the type of team you want to build? Do you have specific goals around that team you want to build? Do you have specific goals around that? Just talking about really small things, how can you show your appreciation for your team? What are some goals around that? Do you want to give them some Christmas gifts and how will you work towards that? When it comes to systems and processes, what do you need in your business that is currently not in place? Would you like to get your welcoming email section done? Would you like to work towards a more cohesive process when it comes to ordering in materials for your business?

Speaker 1: 18:31

When it comes to finance and cash flow, what are your goals there? What kind of amounts do you want to earn or what do you want to invest in in the future? Is it going to be a percentage of what you earn? These are all different kinds of goals that you can have. New business and sales goals around that could be. Could you start a collaboration? What are the numbers in terms of sales that you want to achieve? Marketing and promotion could be all around getting your website up to the next level, making sure you have a good communication plan, a marketing plan, and do you have goals around promoting specific areas of your business? When we talk about creativity and new products, we usually feel really cool and relaxed in that area of our business, so we usually have goals around that.

Speaker 1: 19:37

Today I was talking to one of the members of the business circle. They were thinking about getting a membership in terms of yarns out there for their customers. They want to start doing wholesale with other businesses in the future Lots of things. And when it comes to referrals and customer service, what are goals around customer service? Do you need an FAQ on your website? Do you need some copy paste emails that you can just send whenever somebody asks you a question? That keeps coming up Things like that. So step two step one was taking the time picture and looking at how things are now, and then we talked about some ideas of what kind of goals you can think of. And step two is aligning your values. If you want to make a change in the world, it's important that you align your values with your goals so you can actually start to take steps towards improving your life, your work and our world.

Speaker 1: 20:55

When you've done the work around formulating your personal values, it's time to look at your business values and connect them to your business goals. All these things are, for me, intertwined and I like to take a holistic look at all of these things together, because then it comes natural to do your work and to move ahead. So think about what personal values also connect to your business and then connect them to your goals. When do you want to achieve these goals and what is realistically doable? Your business values are most likely not so far from your personal values, not so far from your personal values, and you can link them together. So that could be something like I want to reduce half of my business waste by the next year or by in two years. You can keep them completely separate. Some personal goals don't align with your business, and that is fine. I have a personal goal list and a business goal list in my bullet journal and I have them next to each other and I can see there what the overlap is. At one glance I can get a feel of what lies in my future and what is important to me and what steps I can take in both my personal and my business life to get to that place. So it's well worth the effort of thinking these things through Now.

Speaker 1: 22:44

It's not easy to figure out what your values are. We spend a lot of time doing that in the business circle. To make it a little easier for you, I have a bonus checklist no-transcript atmosphere, let's call it that way. So if you have trouble figuring out what actual values are and what could be your business values, and if you still have to do some of that work, the Conscious Consumerism Checklist bonus, that will be able to give you some ideas, hopefully and you can get the link for the checklist in the show notes, obviously. Then we have landed on step three zooming in. So we started by setting a timestamp, taking a time picture where are we now and what are we dreaming of in the future? Then we have looked at aligning our personal values with our business values and our goals, and now we are zooming in. We are now going from big dreams to small ones. We are going to define our business goals for the short term one year, the midterm three to five years and long term five to 10 years.

Speaker 1: 24:30

I'm sure this will feel very weird to you, because have you ever done this? Even setting short term goals is something that a lot of small business owners don't really do. We work in the now. You could say we are very mindful, we live in the moment, but when you do that, you are traveling water, you are putting out fires around you, but you will not sow seeds for the future, and this is why you need to take some time to set the goals that make your business grow.

Speaker 1: 25:10

So what I want you to do here and this is kind of another exercise that you can do in your journal try to pick no more than three goals for the short, mid and long-term goal setting. Grab your journal, take notes goal setting. Grab your journal, take notes. What we're doing is you pick no more than three goals for each the short-term, mid-term and long-term goal setting. So that means you'll have nine different goals. Now, for each of those goals, you are going to answer the following questions. For each of those goals, you are going to answer the following questions my goal is, and then you'll do the short description of your goal according to one of the goals models that I just talked about before, and make sure it's measurable, timely, all of that so short description. So short description. My goal is, then this goal is important because the benefits of achieving this goal will be and then you write a short list of potential obstacles and a short list of potential solutions, and you will also write who are the people you will ask to help you. So after doing this exercise and all the exercises that we talked about in this episode, you will start to get a good idea of what your goals can be.

Speaker 1: 26:43

Deciding on good goals for your business can take some time and they will change over time. Give yourself a day or three to work through and define them. Normally they won't be finished. It's a work in progress and you have to start working towards achieving them as soon as possible. So don't hang into that moment of I still don't know, I still don't know, and then weeks pass and you never work towards your goals. So just set some time. I think three to four days is a great amount of time where you can do a lot of this work. You can take walks, make your favorite tea, have a good talk with a friend about this stuff, take your knitting out, turn your brain on and set yourself up for an inspired couple of hours and days of figuring out what you want. Get in the zone, get your pen and paper out and then get to work. Make a change, make a move.

Speaker 1: 27:49

So today I covered one and a half sub-chapter of the chapter business goals in the Business Circle program, with guidance and accountability and support from other business owners like yourself.

Speaker 1: 28:04

Your work and learning gets to the next level when you are in the business circle. But when you take the steps I talked about in this episode, you can already lay some important stepping stones to growing your business. It takes a little bit more effort to do it alone, so I thought of a way to help you. I can be your accountability partner for this one. Grab your calendar and make a note to contact me four days from now or whenever you're ready, but not much longer, and share with me one of your short-term goals, one of your mid-term goals, one of your long-term goals, something you've learned from this episode and a question, if you have one. I cannot wait to connect with you and see what you've come up with. There's nothing you can win except for a little bit of a chat with me about this, and you will have done the work.

Speaker 1: 29:05

So share all of this with me via email info at ya-volcom a voice recording through patternshiftfm, the episode web page. You can get there via the show notes on wherever you listen to this episode. You can actually also send me a direct message via Instagram at underscore Yevon, underscore pattern shift, or tag me in your story or post so I can communicate with you and with your followers and everyone over on Instagram if you like that more. I hope this helped you get more clear about setting goals and how you can do that in a way that aligns with your personal values, and I wish you happy spring seed sewing.

Speaker 1: 30:03

If you appreciate the free content and the work I put into this podcast, consider showing your support in a way that feels right to you. This could be by sharing episodes with friends, signing up for our newsletter or making a small monthly contribution through clicking the support the show link in the show notes, or when you're listening via Apple podcast, you can click the subscription button and get monthly bonus episodes. Your support keeps the podcast going and aligns with the values we share. You'll find all the details in the show notes. Thank you so much for being a part of this movement and remember every stitch counts as we work together and create a pattern shift for you, your business, the crafters and the fashion industry.