Would you hop on a flight without knowing your destination? The same applies to your business, a goal ensures the right destination is reached. This guide will help you set clear, measurable SMART goals and put a plan in place to ensure you achieve them. Setting the right goals and being accountable for the actions needed to achieve these has helped me to scale my business through each growth phase. I'm sharing this plan with you so you in turn can scale your business (because when you do, you'll need us on your team!).

1. How to achieve your
goals
“Do not judge me by my
successes. Judge me by how
many times I fell down and got
back up again.”
Nelson Mandela
A PUBLICATION OF

2. Contents
THIS GUIDE INCLUDES:
• OVERVIEW OF THE SMART GOAL SYSTEM
• SMART GOAL TEMPLATE
• GOAL ACTION PLAN TEMPLATE

3. Welcome
Hi I’m Justine, owner of Your Virtual Assistant Ltd and a firm advocate of setting SMART goals.
I set my first goal after working as a solo entrepreneur for many years and realising somewhere
along the way I’d stopped building a business and started working a job.
Over a coffee, on a napkin I wrote my first goals; goals I needed to meet in order to sit down in
a year’s time having changed my business model from solo to team based, from being a slave
to time to owning my hours, and from dreaming to achieving.
A few years later we have a team of 20 talented VA’s and have just launched our online
business manager package (which was very much a SMART goal). Our revenue this last
quarter is up 60% over the same quarter last year. I’m now in partnership with a client on track
to becoming an accredited Hubspot Agency (inbound marketing – here we come). Without
goals I would still be a one-man band with an income depending on the hours I worked.
I don’t meet all my goals, many are revised. But using them I am constantly moving forward
and improving our business. Progress! I hope the templates in this guide help you to do the
same and remember, if you fall … as the great Nelson Mandela once said, “judge me by the
number of times I fell and got back up again”. Good luck 
THANK YOU FOR DOWNLOADING!

4. What are SMART GOALS?
The idea of the SMART goal was conceived
by a business psychologist named George
Doran. The system ties strategic planning
with implementation, which is the action
necessary to produce change. According to
the SMART criteria, goals need to be:
S – specific
M – measurable
A – attainable
R – relevant to the overall vision and mission
of the business
T – include a Timeframe for completion
SPECIFIC
To set a specific goal, you must answer the
following 5 “W” questions:
What: What do I want to accomplish?
Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits
of accomplishing the goal.
Who: Who is involved?
Where: Identify a location.
Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
MEASURABLE
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask
questions such as:
How much?
How many?
How will I know when it is accomplished?
What are SMART goals?
ATTAINABLE
Set realistic goals that you are able to
achieve but which will stretch you. It is by
pushing yourself that you will attain your
goals. To set an attainable goal you must
answer the “H” question:
How: How can the goal be accomplished?
RELEVANT
To be relevant, a goal must represent an
objective toward which you are both willing
and able to work. Look towards tying your
goal in with your mission or vision
statement. Your goal needs to be important
to you and relevant to your ultimate business
vision.
TIME FRAME
A goal should be grounded within a time
frame. A goal must have a target date.
Commitment to deadlines helps teams to
focus their efforts on completion of the goal
on or before the due date. Goals without
deadlines or schedules for completion tend
to be overtaken by the day-to-day crises that
invariably arise in an organisation. With no
time frame tied to it there’s no sense of
urgency. To set a timely goal you must
answer the sixth “W” question:
When: Establish a time frame

5. The roadmap to achieving
your goals Start with one goal you want to achieve. In one month, six months or one year’s
time what would you like to have changed or improved? Write it down!1. Dream
Use the template provided on page 6 to define your goal. Make it SMART.
2. Be
SMART Use a SMART goal strategy template (page xxx) to map out your strategy, turning
your goal into achievable tasks that you work into your daily to-do list.
The template will help you to:
• Outline your project and show how it aligns with your goal, business vision and
mission.
• Create the strategy, scope and rationale for your project.
• Break your goal down into milestones and then into achievable tasks.
• Set a timeline for each milestone and task.
• Identify resources needed to complete the project.
Transfer these tasks into your project management system. What we do is to set
up the goal as a project, with the milestones/actions laid out in the strategy template
as individual tasks.
3. Plan
If you’re not using a project management system Michael Hyatt has
reviewed 7 APPS TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS in his
blog.
When the timeframe is up, measure how you did. Did you achieve your SMART
goal? If so, onwards and upwards … it’s time to set your next goal.
If you haven’t met your goal, worry not. Look at what you did achieve, was your
goal realistic? Identify why you couldn’t meet your goal and redefine it with a new
timeframe and criteria. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Refine and retry!!
4. Measure

6. SMART Goal Worksheet
(INTENTION) SPECIFIC MEASUREABL
E
ATTAINABLE RELEVENT TIME BASED
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO
ACHIEVE?
WHO? WHAT? WHY?
WHERE? WHEN?
HOW MUCH? HOW
OFTEN? HOW MANY?
ACHIEVABLE? IS IT RELEVANT TO
YOUR ULTIMATE
VISION?
WHEN?
Use the table below to define your goal as a SMART Goal.
EXAMPLES:
Poor Goal: Reduce customer complaints in service department
SMART Goal: Design and implement new customer complaint procedure in service department to
reduce complaints from 30% to 5% of total business by 1 September 2014.
Poor Goal: Start new blog for business
SMART Goal: To achieve an increase in repeat business, start new blog site to be posted to once
per week highlighting benefits of our product. All customers to be emailed an RSS feed link with a
monthly newsletter sent out highlighting posts for that month. Blog to be established in one month
with a newsletter and email to go out at the end of month two.
Write your SMART goal here:

7. SMART Project Action List Goal Action
PROJECT OVERVIEW/RATIONALE
[Provide an overview of the project of what the project involves and your rationale for
choosing the project.]
BUSINESS ISSUE/OPPORTUNITY
[Address at least one of the key problems, issues, challenges or opportunities faced by the
business, providing clarification as to how these will be addressed.]
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
[Clearly explain how the project fits with the business development strategies and/or the vision,
mission and aspirations of the business.]
PROJECT BUSINESS GOAL
[Provide at least one goal that clearly states what you aim to achieve on completion of the project and
follow SMART criteria.]
METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE
[The methodology and scope of the project is clearly specified. This includes identification of at least 3 key
components of the project, a brief outline of how these key components will be completed and specification
of which tasks related to the project.]
Click the image below to download the
WORD version of this template

8. SMART Project Action List Outline of Project Plan
PROJECT REVIEW
DATES
MILESTONE (DATE) CONFIDENCE
LEVEL
Project Start Date [High/Medium/Low]
Proposed Review Date 1 [High/Medium/Low]
Proposed Review Date 2 [High/Medium/Low]
Proposed Review Date 3 [High/Medium/Low]
Project End Date [High/Medium/Low]
Project Financial & Time
Budget
[Estimate the cost involved in completing this project and
identify how any financial requirements will be met.
Estimate time frame involved for the completion of the
project.]

9. SMART Project Action List Primary Project Deliverables
MILESTONE 1
[Identify a key part of the project and the date by which this part will be expected to be
completed.]
MILESTONE 2
[Identify a key part of the project and the date by which this part will be expected to be
completed.]
MILESTONE 3
[Identify a key part of the project and the date by which this part will be expected to be completed.]

10. SMART Project Action List Action Plan and
Implementation – Project
Tasks Approach
TASK TO BE
COMPLETED
(minimum of 5 tasks)
COMPLETE
D DUE DATE
PERSON
RESPONSIBLE
MONITORING
PROGRESS
Key Action Plan 1:

11. SMART Project Action List Action Plan and
Implementation – Project
Tasks Approach
TASK TO BE
COMPLETED
(minimum of 5 tasks)
COMPLETE
D DUE DATE
PERSON
RESPONSIBLE
MONITORING
PROGRESS
Key Action Plan 2:

12. SMART Project Action List Action Plan and
Implementation – Project
Tasks Approach
TASK TO BE
COMPLETED
(minimum of 5 tasks)
COMPLETE
D DUE DATE
PERSON
RESPONSIBLE
MONITORING
PROGRESS
Key Action Plan 3:

13. Experience how fast your business moves
forward with the RIGHT partner.
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