How do you set (financial) goals?
I know.. Such an end of the year topic.. But maybe some of you have thoughts or recommendations. :)
I have made the decision to really focus on growing my side project next year. In order to track my progress and help me with accountability, I want to set some goals for 2019. I would like to set goals for projects and features, but also financial goals.
I'm somewhat comfortable setting operational goals as my vision is pretty clear, but I'm struggling to figure out what's realistic in terms of financials. How do you all do financial planning? How do you make sure your goals are realistic, not too high, not too low?
Any advice is appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help!
We usually set 3 different financial projections. OK, Better, and Beast Mode :)
We look at them as acceptable, good, and best-case scenario. This helps us understand what our outcomes could be and model out how many leads, conversions, churn, etc., we need for each one to be possible (this helps set CAC targets as well). We revisit them monthly to see how we are doing.
That's great advice! I especially like the part about "reverse engineering" the outcome. Thank you!
No prob! Happy to share more via email if needed.
goals are wrong, read Scott Adams' thoughts on this subject (just google 'scott adams on goals'). Goals tend to mislead and keep you on wrong tracks
re financial planning, try to save every penny possible, rethink every purchase decision, try ASAP to get any business endeavor break-even. VCs want the opposite which can make sense in specific situations but creates a huge mental struggle for the individual founder.