Define What Success In Business Looks Like To You

It's easy to find yourself a 'busy fool', working on all the items on your to-do list and losing sight of your end goal. Defining what success looks like to you, in incremental stages can make it easier to stay on track.

Here are my tips to help you make those definitions and celebrate your successes.

When you’re ready to turn your new business idea into a successful, tangible enterprise, do you know where to start? You probably have action points you’re already working on that produce more items for your ever-growing to-do list, but is that tick on a completed item defining your success?

At this point it’s easy to focus on that list of action points, and let your vision swim away further from your starting point, making it seem out of reach. You may even begin to question if your passion, your drive, and determination are strong enough to get you there.




For me, I have to clearly define what success looks like TO ME. Not anyone else. Your success will look and feel different to everyone else’s, it’s deeply personal. It can only be defined by you.
It’s important to remember that small successes are what happen on the way to achieving that long term, ultimate goal, and that’s where step plans come in.

Try this: What do you want your business to look like in 3/5/10 years’ time? Now, bring that back to a years’ time and where does your business need to be to keep you on that trajectory? Now break down the year vision into 90-day segments. What is your focus for the next 90 days, and what actions can you take in the next 30 days to get you there? Then the next 30 days and so on.

For example, as part of growing awareness of your business, you want to grow your Facebook presence. Your goal is to reach 300 likes in the next 90 days, what can you do in the next 30 days to get there?

Create strong content, that is shareable, engaging and valuable to your audience. Start with your message, record it on video in a number of different ways, create graphics to go with it and then feed it into a schedule of posting. Is it working? Do you need to put a budget to some advertising, are you backing it all up by talking about your Facebook page on other platforms; networking, LinkedIn, email footers?

All of a sudden, your to-do list is an action plan that will put you on track to successfully acquiring 300 likes.

Make success personal to you

I’ve spoken about goal setting and planning for years, it’s the driver for a growing business – you have to know where you’re going and how to get there. And whilst you may be embarking on this journey alongside a business partner, mentor, family member or someone else, you will be most successful if you’re working towards your own personal goal, not someone else’s.

Of course, you will have shared goals and reaching those goals will be shared successes, but what do they mean to YOU?

Failure is a natural partner to success

As Bill Gates once said, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose”. So don’t be afraid to push yourself out of your comfort zone, where failure is possible, because it is inevitable. The more you build resilience and the ability to pick yourself up and dust yourself off, the quicker you can learn, and move on.

Celebrate even the small wins

So, you’ve reached those 300 likes on your Facebook page, you’ve learned how to use Xero, you’ve landed your first client through a referral… Don’t let the little successes pass by without recognition. It’s all too easy to focus on the negatives and let one bad experience define your whole day or week. Be proud of what you’ve achieved, thank those that helped you get there and look at how you can repeat it.

My final message to you is this; success is how you define it for yourself, not what the books say, not what your competition is doing. Clearly define what success looks like to you, break down the long journey into shorter steps and be proud of each one you reach.

I’m here to support you on your entrepreneurial journey. Alongside my blogs, I have a wealth of advice in my free business resources section of my website, and offer a free consultation to help you along your business journey. Feel free to get in touch with any questions.

All the best – Mike

Mike Foster
The Entrepreneur's Mentor

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