Setting Goals for Your Real Estate Business

Happy New Year everybody!

Every year I send good wishes for a successful year to my friends and business associates but a good wish is not what will make you successful. Having a plan — in both your personal and business lives — and taking ACTION to make that plan become a reality is what will bring you success.

As much as I would love to be on the golf course 7 days a week, I know that’s not the right type of action to make my business a success. Sure, I have a great team of people who help me run my business but that in itself was an ACTION — finding those people, interviewing, and training them were all involved. I know for a fact there’s no magic genie who can instantly put together a dream team!

So, to help spur YOU into action, I wanted to share some tips with you about goal setting. Ya, I know, it’s January and everybody and their mother is setting their new year’s resolutions. No matter what you call them, goals or resolutions will help you get what you want (and deserve) out of life. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to set these goals.

How can you set goals that will lead to success?

There’s actually a wonderful formula that is used internationally and that every good planner should keep in mind when setting goals for careers, businesses and personal aspirations.  The formula is called S.M.A.R.T. and it stands for:

S:      Specific
M:    Measurable
A:    Attainable
R:     Realistic
T:     Timely

The more specific you make your goal the more likely you’ll have an actual goal and not an idea that will be difficult to understand, yet alone realize.

The more measurable your goal is the more likely you’ll be able to actually “know” if you’ve succeeded. Measurements like revenue, number of clients—basically anything that you can tangibly count or assess with objective figures to determine success is a measurable goal.

Setting goals that aren’t attainable are exercises in futility. When you set attainable goals you ensure that you have adequate resources and knowledge to get to those goals.

Realistic goals are harder to articulate than you might think.  Sometimes the process of goal setting supports unrealistic goal making which can lead to disappointment, failure and lost investments of time and resources.

Goals need to be set within time frames.  Without time frames there is no sense of urgency and that can lead to failure as well.

Every year around this time I start thinking about my business goals and my brain starts working at warp speed, thinking up ways to improve my business. When was the last time you evaluated your business? Do you have goals in mind? Why not get some paper and a pen and use this SMART method to set a timeline for yourself and your goals.

A timeline isn’t meant to be written in stone, especially if you’re new to this particular method. It’s OK to make changes so long as you keep the main goal in sight. Don’t just write it down…follow through and take specific actions to make those goals a reality.

I’ll be checking up on ya… 😉

— Trevor

p.s. Way back when I started this website I wrote an article about Writing a Life Plan – Your First Step to REI Success…check it out if you need more motivation 😉