Happy New Year!

It’s January—the perfect time for reflection and goal setting! As a small business owner, setting clear, actionable goals can help you grow and stay focused. I’ve always loved goal setting, it’s been a game-changer for my business and personal life, and I would encourage any small business owner to spend some time setting their own goals for the year ahead.

In this post, I’ll share my wins, lessons, and top small business goals for 2025, along with tips to set and achieve your own.

Before setting your small business goals, spend some time reflecting on what went well for your business last year, what did you achieve, what were the challenges, what did you learn, how could you improve? Then think about what you want to achieve over the next year and write it down. I find it helps me to feel less overwhelmed to stick to a maximum of 2-3 goals, breaking the goals down by quarter, and then have maximum of 3-4 things to achieve in each quarter for each goal.

After some reflections, I wrote down some of my small business wins for 2024, and I was surprised at how much I achieved, despite some challenges along the way.

Have questions about goal setting? Jump to the FAQs section.

My 2024 small business wins

• Launched 4 Skillshare courses

• Landed my first freelance contract

• Became a Skillshare Top Teacher

• Got a business bank account

• Completed a CIM Award in AI marketing (with distinction)

• Gained over 2,500 students!

• Updated my website with improved messaging

My 2024 small business lessons

• Consistency is key for sustained growth.

• Prioritise activities aligned with long-term goals.

• It’s okay to step back from commitments to focus on what matters.

• Celebrate the small wins.

• Balance is key!

There were some lessons along the way, and some goals I didn’t meet, but it’s still important to be proud of the progress made! My main lesson was that I only have so much time at the moment, and so I can’t do everything. It takes time to build a small business from scratch, especially when working full time. My time is valuable and so needs to be optimised as much as possible - especially to keep the much-needed consistency with course creation. My consistency wasn’t great last year and that directly impacted my performance on Skillshare.

My business goals also suffered a bit last year due to other activities that ended up requiring a lot of time/energy (e.g. running London marathon - which I am incredibly proud of by the way)! And also, some voluntary work that I was doing. I have realised that if I want to meet my business goals, I need to focus my time on activities that help me to meet my goals and reduce time and energy spent on activities that don’t.

That’s not to say I won’t run anymore, or spend time doing other things, but rather than spending my whole weekend running and then being too tired to work on my small business, I want to have a better balance. I’ve also stepped away from my voluntary activities and other personal projects (for now at least) so that I can prioritise better. I’m also aiming to reduce my social media use (e.g. doom scrolling!) so I can use that time on my small business goals instead.

My small business goals for 2025

My guiding phrase for 2025 is - "Building the foundation for my future" - capturing a house move this year (hopefully!), small business growth, and a focus on mental and physical well-being. My main small business goals are:

• Stay consistent with content creation: Being consistent with my Skillshare courses and keeping up a regular cadence. My goal is to release at least 1 course per quarter. My next course is due soon and is on the topic of using ChatGPT to help you with your marketing strategy, so watch this space!

• Diversify revenue streams: Expanding my revenue streams to reduce reliance on one platform, as it’s super important to diversify your offerings to build a more stable and scalable income.

• Growing my community: This includes growing my audience on Skillshare and my community on social media, as well as growing my email list.

• Know my audience: Understanding my audience more and what courses, tools, and content will help them and truly add value.

• Balance work, life, and well-being: This year is about intentional time management and self-care, ensuring that I achieve my goals without compromising my mental or physical health.

• Hopefully, inspiring other small business owners along the way by sharing my own goals, progress, and challenges!

How I plan to achieve my goals?

I have created some SMART objectives based on my top-level goals above, as well as a marketing strategy and tactics to help meet each objective. I have broken down the tasks into things I need to achieve each quarter and then added these to a Trello board.

I’ve also created a plan on an Excel spreadsheet with course timelines, deadlines and an outline content calendar for blog and social media content for Q1. I am trying not to overcomplicate it or commit to too much at once, and so I have kept it as simple as possible, and my plan is to review this each quarter. I also used my custom ChatGPT to help with organising my jumbled thoughts into a plan, and it honestly helped me to save SO much time. ChatGPT really is a game-changer if you are short on time!

Download your FREE goal planning template

Want to take the first step toward achieving your own 2025 small business goals? Download your FREE goal planning template, which will help you to follow the steps I took myself to set my own 2025 goals. It’s packed with step-by-step guidance to help you prioritise and break down your 2025 goals into actionable tasks

You could also check out my course on creating a marketing strategy for small businesses—it’s packed with actionable insights.

Key Takeaways:

• Reflection and goal setting are essential for small business success.

• My top goals for 2025 include consistent content creation, revenue diversification, and audience growth.

• Tools like Trello and ChatGPT can help streamline your planning process.

• Download my free goal planning template to get started today.

FAQs about goal setting for small businesses

What are SMART objectives?

SMART objectives are a powerful framework to help small business owners set actionable and achievable goals. They are:

• Specific: Clearly define what you want to achieve.

• Measurable: Include criteria to track progress and success.

• Achievable: Set realistic goals within your resources and capabilities.

• Relevant: Ensure your goals align with your broader business objectives.

• Time-bound: Set a deadline to create a sense of urgency and focus.

While my free goal planning template doesn’t directly incorporate SMART objectives, this method can complement your goal-setting process and provide extra clarity.

What is a goal planning template?

A goal planning template is a simple yet powerful tool that helps small business owners organise their annual goals into smaller, manageable tasks. It breaks down your goals into quarterly or monthly milestones, helping you stay focused and track your progress effectively. Download my free goal planning template here!

Why should small business owners set goals?

Setting goals gives small business owners direction and focus. It helps prioritise tasks, measure success, and ensure time and energy are spent on activities that truly matter. Goal setting also provides motivation and a sense of achievement as milestones are reached.

How can I stay consistent with goal setting throughout the year?

Break your goals into quarterly tasks and review your progress regularly. Tools like Trello and ChatGPT can help you stay organised and on track.

Whether you’re running a small business, freelancing, or chasing a dream, 2025 is full of potential. Let’s make it a year of focus, growth, and inspiration!

– Louise

P.S Check back soon as I’ll be sharing my tips on how I streamlined my marketing strategy and goals process this year with the help of ChatGPT.

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