Business Planning Guide: How to Set Business Goals for 2024

From quarterly KPIs to five-year plans

Goals are good. Goals act as a guide on the often-wonky path of growing a small business; they keep us motivated when things get tricky, and they give us reasons to celebrate when we reach milestones.

We know it’s been tricky to set goals and stick to a plan over the last few years.

So, to help you refocus and regroup for the year ahead, we’re giving you an easy-to-follow formula for setting ambitious yet achievable goals.

Goals are just one piece of the business planning puzzle

This guide to goal-setting is the latest in our Business Planning Guide series. If you haven’t yet, check out the earlier guides to get all your ducks in a row before moving on to goal setting.

A foundation for growth

We’re nearly ready to set goals for 2024. But before talking about small business growth, we need to know that the foundation is in place.

This means reviewing a few often-overlooked administrative essentials.

Business name renewal: Have you automated your annual (or three-yearly) business name renewal with Registry’s online portal? Doing so will save you time and hassle and avoid the risk of penalties or business name cancellation.
Financial review: We recently shared some tips to review and overhaul your budget for the year ahead, including useful insights to pace out growth so you don’t overcapitalise.
Check and double-check: When was the last time you checked your business name or company registration details? Now is a good time to make sure ASIC has your updated information.
Digital connections: Is your online presence in the best possible shape? Digital marketing is mission-critical nowadays, and our online business services make it easy to design, build and launch a fully optimised website in a weekend.

Look back to move forward

Before diving into the process of setting 2024 goals, it’s essential to take stock of your 2023 achievements and identify areas for improvement.

Review last year’s goals, assess your progress, and identify any major unforeseen challenges.

What worked well? What could have been better?

This reflection, while it could be confronting, will provide valuable insights into your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to grow your small business.

Step 1: (Re)define your vision

Your business vision is a long-term aspiration that defines what you aim to achieve as a company. It's the picture of where you want your business to be in the future.

Take some time to revisit your vision and see whether it still provides clarity and direction for business decisions.

Once you have a clear vision – even if it’s unchanged – share it with your team to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards the same goal from the first day of 2024.

Step 2: Set SMART goals

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals are the cornerstone of effective goal-setting.

Breaking down your overarching vision into smaller, actionable, annual objectives makes your goals more manageable, improves focus, and fosters accountability.

Milestones (AKA deadlines) are a crucial component. Just like business name renewal is due once a year, your SMART goals should expire annually so you’re motivated to meet your targets.

Step 3: Break down annual goals into KPIs

Once you’ve established your annual SMART goals, break them into even smaller milestones on monthly or quarterly timescales.

This bite-sized granularity helps you track your small business growth progress more closely and adjust course as needed.

KPIs should be linked to operations so that tweaking an area of the business today – such as updating a website image or swapping out a small component in a product – is measurable almost immediately.

Step 4: Track your progress and adjust as needed

Regularly monitor your progress towards your vision.

Track KPIs, review results against and identify areas where you need to step up or ease off.

It’s a good idea to track KPIs in the same place as long-term goals. Visual reminders, in the form of a results dashboard or progress chart, serve as a reminder of how daily operations connect to the bigger picture.

Beyond 2024: The benefits of five-year plans

While KPIs and SMART goals provide a roadmap for next week and next quarter, five-year plans offer a perspective for long-term small business growth.

A five-year plan outlines your company’s strategic direction, detailing key initiatives, expansion plans and financial objectives.

(It doesn’t have to be a five-year plan; the idea is to set aspirational future targets on a realistic long-term scale).

Big-picture planning offers several benefits:

Clearly defines your company’s long-term vision and direction
Contextualises short-term goals and daily activities within the overall plan
Provides a framework for decision-making and resource allocation
Helps you identify potential risks and growth avenues
Paces out small business growth so you don’t get impatient or miss opportunities

Ambitious (yet achievable) goals are the cornerstone of success for any organisation.

Creating a roadmap that links today’s work to tomorrow’s successes allows you to navigate challenges and grow your small business sustainably.

Remember, goal setting is an ongoing process. It requires continuous evaluation, regular adjustments and an honest perspective on performance.

Stay committed and adaptable, and you’ll be on your way to realising your vision.

Registry is Australia’s growth partner

Our comprehensive online business services, including affordable business name renewal, ABN registration, domain hosting, website design and email hosting, help small business owners streamline operations and achieve their growth objectives.

We’re here to help you achieve your goals in 2024. With a local support team and user-friendly services, Registry is your dedicated small business partner today, this quarter and for the next five years.

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