Time for Your One-Month Goal Check-In

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Time for Your One-Month Goal Check-In

That’s how many times the small hand of the (analog) clock has rotated in 2023. (Actually, now it’s 63.)

The first day of February provides a good opportunity for all of us to step back and assess progress against the goals that we set for the new year. (If your goal setting for 2023 got pushed aside for year-end festivities, now is still a good time to get some goals down on paper.)

If you’re in the early stages of your consulting or professional services startup or you’re considering making the leap, your goals could focus on one or more of the following areas:

Vetting Your Business Idea

How many industry experts have you validated your business idea with?
How many members of your target audience have you spoken with?
How many competitors have you researched?
Have you articulated a unique value proposition? (See related Inc. Magazine article: https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/what-is-a-unique-value-proposition-how-do-you-find-it.html)

Planning

Have you written a business plan?
Have you met with a lawyer to establish the business as a legal entity?

Professional Presence

Have you registered a domain name for your email and website?
Have you built a website?
If yes, have you set up web and marketing analytics tracking and begun assessing performance?
Have you set up social profiles?
Have you inventoried and updated any professional certifications that you’ll need to be competitive?

Networking, Marketing, and Sales

How many industry events have you attended?
How many existing contacts in your network have you informed of your new venture?
How many blog posts or content pieces have you produced to demonstrate expertise to potential clients?
How many sales calls have you scheduled?
How many deals have you closed?

What will you do in February to fulfill your goals? Better yet, what will you do before the small hand of the clock returns to its current position?

The steady progress (as well as the breakthroughs) that you make in 2023 will depend mostly on your dedication to working towards meaningful, measurable goals each day.

Have a question about your startup?
Submit your question to Feras.

Feras Alhlou

Feras has founded, grown, and sold businesses in Silicon Valley and abroad, scaling them from zero revenue to 7 and 8 figures. In 2019, he sold e-Nor, a digital marketing consulting company, to dentsu (a top-5 global media company). Feras has served as an advisor to 150+ other new startup businesses, and in his current venture, Start Up With Feras, he's on a mission to help entrepreneurs in the consulting and services space start and grow their businesses smarter and stronger.