Brand Management – SiMar

Ready To Launch Your Online Course? Follow These 3 Simple Branding Steps To Make Your Course Stand Out

Allison Todd — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 09:08:27 +0000

You have a course, and you’re ready to launch.

But here’s the sticking point: few courses are 100% original. So if you want your course to be heads above the rest, you first need to figure out a strong branding strategy that attracts your ideal customer.

You thought you’d done all the hard work creating the course, right?

Don’t worry. These three simple tips take the stress out of branding and help you create an authentic and unique online presence.

Know Your Purpose

Why did you choose to create this particular course? Knowing your reason why helps you figure out your purpose. Check out this Simon Sinek TED Talk about purpose—it’s a great starting point.

There are hundreds of courses out there. So, to stand out, you need to figure out your unique selling point (commonly called your USP) and value proposition (VP), two essential aspects of branding.

Writing down the answers to these questions can help you find your purpose and USP. And you can create your VP from there.

– What do I do?
– What courses do I offer?
– How do I do it? What makes my course different from others out there?
– Why do I do it? What was my reasoning behind creating my course?

Know Your Brand Promise

Big brands are instantly recognizable by their brand values, so figure out what you’d like your brand values to be. One way to do this is to imagine what others say about your brand when you’re not in the room.

Some examples of brand values are honesty, warmth, integrity, loyalty, dependability, and creativity.

Make a list of all the values you’d like your brand to stand for and choose the top five. From your top five, create a brand promise. For example, this is Patricia Washington’s from Redefining Wealth’s brand promise:

“My brand promise is that every time people come in contact with me, there’ll be a certain level of vulnerability and authenticity no matter what. I want people to feel like I’m the girl next door.”

Know Your Target Audience

Your course will likely be in a specific niche. So to market it successfully, you need to know your ideal customer. Consider things such as:

– Who are you here to serve? For example, if it’s a yoga course, are you working with new yoga students or the more experienced? What age are you targeting?
– What does your ideal audience want to gain from taking your course? How do they want to feel? Focus on pain points so you can really tap into the emotions behind the problem they want to solve.

Your Business Is Always Evolving—So Should Your Branding

After establishing the answers to these questions, it’s time to launch your course. However, branding is never static. As your brand grows, it may change slightly. And as long as it’s always recognizable as your brand, it’s ok to evolve.

Why Should You Hire A Digital Marketing Agency & How Do You Know It’s The Right Time?

Allison Todd — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 12:30:00 +0000

So, you’re ready to invest in the right people and tools to perfect your marketing strategy? With so many benefits on offer to hiring a digital marketing agency, it’s clear that you’re ready to put your brand first.

But what exactly are the benefits of hiring a digital marketing agency? And how do you know if it’s the right time to invest?

Today’s post will explore 5 reasons why a digital marketing agency is the key to your brand’s growth, as well as pinpointing the signs you’re ready to make the leap.

What Is A Digital Marketing Agency?

A digital marketing agency is a team of well-versed, experienced marketers who specialize in various marketing paths. They work together with a clear vision on marketing campaigns to help grow and develop your brand.

How Do You Know When You Should Hire A Digital Marketing Agency?

In business, timing is crucial. So, here are 5 signs that you’re ready to outsource and hire a digital marketing agency:

1. Your marketing strategy is no longer working, and it demands a fresh, new outlook.

2. You physically don’t have the time to dedicate to your marketing efforts.

3. You’re feeling overwhelmed, which may be manifesting itself through inspiration blocks, unproductivity, or lack of confidence.

4. Your brand is desperate for new leads, but you’re finding it challenging to capture them.

5. Your brand isn’t clearly defined and washes out to your competitors.

Why Should You Hire A Digital Marketing Agency?

Now we’ve addressed 5 symptoms suggesting you need a digital marketing agency, let’s consider why a digital marketing agency is the right route for your business.

1. It Frees You To Work On The Elements You Want To Work On

When you decided to launch your business, it’s likely you didn’t realize quite how time-consuming marketing is. In fact, it can be so time-consuming that you’ve lost many opportunities for business growth due to your chain of marketing and exposure.

Outsourcing this, however, means you’re able to work on the elements you choose to. Plus, you can be sure that the team you outsource it to will be well versed in marketing strategies.

2. You’ll Be Working With Experts.

You can listen to every podcast, download every freebie, and follow every Instagram post within the industry and you’ll still be dipping only your little toe into the marketing field.

As such, when you work with a digital marketing agency, you can rest assured that you’ll be working with experts. Armed with the latest SEO and social media algorithm knowledge, alongside the know-how to launch a successful marketing campaign across multiple platforms, you can ultimately guarantee growth.

3. There Are Plans To Suit Almost Every Budget Which Grow As Your Brand Grows

One of the best things about a digital marketing agency is that they can accommodate almost any budget. So if you’re a startup, you need only a small package. Then, as the results pour in and you see a clear, positive return on investment, you’ll be able to upscale your package.

In other words, as your business grows, your digital marketing agency’s efforts and inclusion grow too.

4. You’ll Be Given Evident Results.

Many business owners market their business without evaluating their data. However, a digital marketing agency is well versed in the metrics and key performance indicators. In fact, digital marketing agencies are highly data-informed, and they use this to shape your marketing strategy.

Members of the agency will track the data and explain what the metrics mean, so you can see the efforts of the team paying off and assess how your strategy is functioning.

5. You’ll Be Able To Expand Your Brand’s Reputation Across Multiple Channels

Omnipresence is almost impossible when working as a solopreneur. Being a one-person band means you have your limits. It’s impossible to create high-quality content according to the users of various platforms.

However, with a digital marketing agency, your brand can master omnipresence, allowing you to capture more leads and never miss an opportunity to sell again.

Digital Marketing Agencies Allow Your Brand To Grow

In a nutshell, digital marketing agencies are adaptable to your brand. While the prices and packages can adjust depending on the size and position of your business, one thing remains consistent: their goal for your growth.

What Is A Digital Marketing Agency & How Can it Serve You and Your Business?

Allison Todd — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 12:15:37 +0000

If you’re a fledgling business owner or have been in business since the days of ‘old school’ marketing and are digital marketing can seem like an overwhelming puzzle — and we’re here to help you put it together!

Digital marketing is part of an overall strategy that gets you closer to your business goals. What exactly does a digital marketing agency do, and how can you hire an agency to advance your business?

Let’s Get Down to It: What Exactly is a Digital Marketing Agency?

A digital marketing agency is a group of professionals whose common goal is to see you succeed in a digital marketplace. A digital marketing agency has the capabilities to level-up your marketing efforts with web design, advertising, social media management, search engine optimization, public relations opportunities, and management of all of your digital platforms.

Should I Hire a Digital Marketing Agency?

Outsourcing your digital marketing to a third-party is a significant step towards your business goals.

You might be a good candidate for a partnership with a digital marketing firm if:

You Don’t Have Time

Digital marketing requires a significant time commitment. From ideation to implementing your campaigns to analyzing and building from your results, digital marketing requires hours of your Time — consistently. If you don’t have the Time to dedicate to your online marketing, outsourcing allows you to spend your Time on other aspects of your business.

The Bigger Picture Needs Your Attention

Even if you have the Time to dedicate to your digital marketing, implementing effective campaigns takes a lot of your brain space. If you need to be laser-focused on your business’s overall trajectory, outsourcing your marketing to a digital agency can allow you to put your focus and creativity where you need it most.

You are Piecemealing Your Skills Together

As the saying goes, business owners wear a lot of hats. Maybe you know a little design, a little paid advertising, some content strategy — but you aren’t comfortable enough with your skill level to implement an effective campaign. A digital marketing agency specializes in all of these things to ensure that your marketing garners the best possible ROI.

How Do I Choose a Digital Marketing Agency?

A digital marketing firm is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is essential to find a digital marketing agency that aligns with your business goals, values, and needs.

When choosing a marketing agency, ask prospective partners questions about their processes, experiences, expectations, level of involvement, and expertise areas. Not all digital agencies are created equal, nor do all agencies specialize in the same places.

Boost Your Brand, Business, and Bottom Line

At SiMar Inc, we work with business owners to develop, maintain, and grow your online presence at every stage of their journey. Using our proven marketing methods support your overall initiatives, establish your business as an authority in your industry, and bolster your bottom line.

Are you ready to transform strategy into success? Contact a team member and learn why businesses worldwide choose SiMar Inc. as their digital marketing partner.

Taking the Grateful Path and Why It’s Greater

Allison Todd — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 02:35:41 +0000

If you are unsure, taking the grateful path is the way to go and here’s why it’s greater. For those at a crossroads career wise, the new year can bring a lot of deep thinking and self-reflection. Entrepreneurs consider whether their business plans are effective, while job seekers–particularly new applicants–devise 101 ways to expand their skill set with the hopes of finding the perfect employer and job.

A goal or dream realized, a successfully implemented plan, landing a good paying job that you also happen to love, or anything that resembles a victory easily allows gratefulness to creep into one’s heart. But when life offers the opposite or less than what’s expected, we still need to embrace an attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude: The Grateful Path

Gratefulness will tell you that there is a reason for every failure, for every botched business startup, for every job opportunity lost. Gratitude will help you embrace reality and usher you towards much better solutions as you work to achieve your life’s purpose and goals. Do you regularly feel or express appreciation for what has happened in your life whether it’s good or bad? I can help you assess the ups and downs that randomly occur as you attain your personal and professional goals! We’ll kick-start 2018 by tackling your personal development plan, crafting and/or reworking your vision statement and mission, and always end on a positive note, with motivational tips for aspiring entrepreneurs.

But remember that everything in life begins and ends with an attitude of gratitude! Paving a grateful path includes routinely expressing thanks for both huge and trivial things, as well as all of those moments in between. Let your gratitude spread like wildfire to the essence of your being, and then share the wealth with others. When you live in gratitude, you can handle anything thrown at you as life easily comes full circle.

–And on that note, SiMar Inc. thanks you for being here! Together, let’s make 2018 the first chapter of your success story!

Does happiness elude you? People mover, community builder, and confidence coach, Allison Todd can help you get back on your feet, untangle the heavy burden of your heart, and unleash the prowess hidden deep within you. Check out SiMar Inc.’s coaching services now!

Growth Mindset: You Can Think Yourself To Success

Allison Todd — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 12:42:07 +0000

Yes, it is true. You CAN think yourself to success with the right growth mindset. What you think, you indeed become.

if you tell yourself you can not do it, guess what you can’t do it. But if you believe that you can then you will. Now, this premise doesn’t mean that if you think you can run 20 miles in a minute that you can. It means that if you have a growth mindset that you expose yourself to the possibilities rather than limit yourself with negativity. Modern psychologist Carol Dweck researches growth mindset and is known for teaching that we can grow our brain to success. Her study titled “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” has garnered a growing following for years.

Mindset Defined

But what is mindset? Simply put we become what we think. If we think we can’t…we can’t. According to Dweck, a mindset is an “inquiry into the power of both our conscious and subconscious beliefs and how changing even the simplest of such beliefs can create a profound impact on every aspect of our lives.” It lies in the idea that how our conviction and principles concerning our abilities and potential can stimulate the way we behave or act thereby, predicting our success.

There are, however, two mindsets—fixed and growth. A fixed mindset is deeply ingrained in our system. It goes with the assumption that a person’s character, intellect, and creative ability are given. This set of inherent features are fixed and can’t be changed. A growth mindset, on the other hand, is one that can be nurtured like a flower waiting to bloom. This mindset thrives on overcoming challenges and looks at failures as avenues for growth. It thrives on hard work, resiliency, and efforts. These two mindsets convey a great deal of how we behave, how we dance around success and failure, and ultimately on how to create sustainable growth for the business.

Managing Business Success

While a strong fixed business mindset is good, it can’t be denied a nurtured growth mindset is essential. It’s needed more so in today’s constantly changing and competitive markets. Entrepreneurs and career professionals can no longer rely on our team’s skill set and must also incorporate a growth mindset that allows you to identify your path to business success.

It’s important to understand that relying on a fixed mindset alone will make challenges, more challenging. An active growth mindset allows your internal monologue to identify new avenues and innovative direction. It creates an opportunity to see the bigger picture and plan sustainable success rather than being limited by a fixed belief system. Growth mindset allows you to constantly look for ways to grow and effectively manage challenges. In short, it allows you to think outside the box while growing and learning.

Nurturing A Growth Mindset

Science tells us that by virtue of neuroplasticity, our brain does changes no matter how old we become. So the good news is the opportunity to change is consistently available. The key is being open to a new way of thinking and train your mind to build new skills. Find your developing path and plan to stay ahead of the competitive curve.

Professional coaches will assist you as you create your new way of thinking. According to experts like SiMar’s founder, Allison Todd, one must first recognize their way of thinking in an effort to realize a new way of thinking. The growth mindset is a commitment to self and essential to the success process. It’s important to tune out the negative internal monologue of a fixed mindset. Identify ways to process the stumbling blocks of business. Create a constant path of progress toward your business prospers. And whatever you do, don’t ever give up. Remember, the way you shape-up your mind has a huge impact on the way you manage your business.

If you believe your mindset is getting in the way of your progress, SiMar coaches are here to assist you. Schedule a conversation with us today and let’s uncover the path to your new success.

Expert Tips on Developing Interpersonal Skills

Allison Todd — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 20:36:07 +0000

Whether at work or somewhere, we use interpersonal skills to interact with others. At work, we talk to our co-employees, delegate work to our subordinates, or present proposals to clients or to the management. All these aspects require interpersonal skills. It is no wonder many employers today seek out candidates with robust interpersonal skills. They no longer just rely on aptitude and expertise, these employers look for people that can work well with a team as well as effectively communicate with both internal and external stakeholders of the company. But what really are interpersonal skills?

Understanding Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are often referred to as people kills or social skills. Sometimes, they are pointed directly as communication skills. In general terms, they are also called life skills and fall under the category of “soft skills.” Unless you have developed anthropophobia or social phobia growing up, you actually possess innate interpersonal skills from the time you were born.

Yes, you had it in you all along. Interpersonal skills include verbal and non-verbal communication, listening skills, negotiation skills, problem solving and decision-making, and your level of assertiveness. What you say, how you say it, and how you interpret the message using both verbal and body language largely comprises the communication skills set of interpersonal skills. How you act upon challenges, find a win-win solution, and decide according to the opportunities presented as well as how you assert a stand also fall in the broad concept of interpersonal skills. All these, however, are crucial to your productiveness and effectiveness in the workforce.

Honing Your Interpersonal Skills

While there are a broad range of skills set for you to be successful in your chosen field, it cannot be denied that having strong interpersonal skills will serve as a foundation for your success. Experts continually prove that without such, developing other life skills may be difficult.

Luckily, interpersonal skills can be honed to cohesively work with your hard skills. Here are some ways to develop them:

When talking, choose your words wisely. Say things in a way that you can be easily understood. Communicate message in a straightforward manner by instilling clarity and to always seek feedback to ensure that your idea is understood. You may want to use appropriate questioning and posturing to develop a much clearer understanding of the matter at hand.

Listen and by that, means to listen well. Do not mistaken listening as hearing per se. Listening takes more than hearing as it involves the ability to “receive and interpret” messages delivered by both verbal and nonverbal cues or in the absence of words. You need to decipher beyond mere words. Often, what could be hidden behind nonverbal cues are the more important matters.

Learn to clarify by asking questions. Seeking clarifications will help prevent any point of misunderstanding. Through this, you can carefully express your assertions and create point of negotiations in an effective and mutually respectful manner.

Always take control of your interpersonal skills. Try to relax and maintain a positive mindset. Do not let emotions get the better of you. Practice relaxation techniques and mindfulness for positive attitude.

Learn also to empathize with other co-employees or a boss’ point of view. You need to accept that POVs can sometimes be different. Should communication fail, carefully analyze what barriers made it so and rectify the problem from there.

Reflect upon previous successes and failures in fostering interpersonal skills with others. Always think positive. See failures as room for improvements and communication gaffe as a way to forge more effective measures.

Indeed, developing strong personal skills can be a challenge. You need to recognize and accept your limitations and mistakes to fully grasp how far you can achieve. Maintain a positive attitude and, if possible, find a trusted coach who can guide you through.

Millennial Workforce: A Strong Brand Leverage in Social Media Marketing

Allison Todd — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 12:17:09 +0000

Without a doubt, your millennial workforce knows social media by the back of their hands. They who thrive on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, SnapChat, or Facebook are definitely no stranger to the relevance of forging social connections in this day and age. But knowing how to use them responsibly and effectively for business? There lies the big difference.

Strategizing Millennial Concept

Millennial workers can do a lot of good as well as harm to a product, service or brand even when not directly involved in the company’s social marketing team. They can also make a lot of difference with their personal tweets, updates, and posts related to the business. This is where you must find ways to create an internal campaign that points to this untapped leverage for your brand. By doing it right, you can guarantee creating an astounding social media presence that will create wave upon wave of success for your brand.

Social media solutions like all other marketing strategies for your brand require some deep thinking, planning, and practice. Content production, for instance, requires certain level of research to know precisely how to position a message. In the hopes of bringing utmost effectiveness to your campaign, training and guidance for your millennial workforce are essential factors to ensure that a clear-cut, unique and consistent brand voice be heard.

The Right Voice

Without a doubt, your brand identity had been through a lot of successes and failures over the years. That somehow makes it easier to establish the right voice for your brand. For startups and businesses that wish to carve a new identity in the market, however, such concept may not be the case. The need to establish the right voice is crucial for them to make their social media presence felt and reverberated.

To develop such a challenging feat, certain aspects must be considered. One is to carefully identify what the company and its products or services truly stand for. Do you have a unique sales or service philosophy that differs from the rest? Methods of communication between customers or clients and the company must also be identified. So are your goals and objectives as well as expectations. Most importantly, it is also imperative to delineate what benefits customers are to enjoy from your brand.

Creating a solid brand voice must be infused along with these tenets. While a millennial workforce may have great advantage in utilizing social media, only by knowing what and how you want the brand to be perceived by your target audience or prospects will mark the difference.

Consistency is Key

The efforts in building a solid voice does not stop in generating a solid voice for your brand though. It requires a certain level of commitment to deliver something in a consistent manner. One challenge to this is the perceived unpredictability of millennials when it comes to marketing. Finding a way to ensure that they effectively infuse their individual personalities into the brand’s voice without restraining their creativity as well as enthusiasm will be of great help in creating a consistent brand voice. Add to that the real-time feedback of customers to make things go full circle.

All in all, gearing your millennial workforce with the right knowledge and unwavering loyalty will help amplify your brand’s social media leverage. Engage them. Train them to become brand ambassadors for your business. With their creativity and zeal for achievement– and social media savvy, you can finally guarantee delivering a brand voice that will echo the nucleus of your brand.

Crisis Management: Dealing With the Inevitable

Allison Todd — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 09:33:41 +0000

Businesses are not without crisis. Being a womanpreneur, however, may place you in a more uptight position. It cannot be denied that there is still some sort of silent stigma to women in business and when crisis seems to inevitable, finding ways to cope with such circumstances must be foremost on your mind. While other womenpreneur may crumble easily when under pressure, it is imperative that you rise up to the occasion and find a way to overcome such adversity and continue to thrive.

Fortunately, there are ways for you to make any crisis situation work to your advantage. You can also practice it to perfection. To get you started, here are some points to consider:

1. Take a pause and do nothing. Do not panic either. While it is noble to immediately act and rectify the problem, some womenpreneurs tend to be taken by their emotions in a roller coaster ride leading to horrendous results. So before you jump into the situation, try to take a step back, compose yourself, and see the problem from the outside looking in. This will help give you a better perspective and respond in a more effective and productive manner.

2. Consider consulting a reliable crisis management team for tough situations. This is even more so in situations that directly impact community or environmental standards. These firms know precisely what buttons to push and when to do it.

3. Confer with your own team particularly on internal issues or crisis situations involving product, service or brand. Do acknowledge that you cannot do everything in your lonesome. At this point, you will need everyone’s cooperation and ideas. As a rule of thumb, playing the blame-game will get your efforts nowhere. So, seek out your team’s help and find solutions instead of adding more to the problem.

4. After weighing everything, it is time to pursue your planned course of action. Be proactive when managing a game-plan though. Always have contingencies in place. Make sure also to create identifiable measures to help monitor if the executed plan is effective or not.

5. Assess carefully the root cause of the problem, how it got blown out of proportion, and how it was being handled. Look at possible gaps in the measures being done. Through careful evaluation, you can prevent such crisis situation from recurring or device certain policies that could mitigate matters before they get worst.

6. Always maintain a positive mindset. Most womenpreneurs tend to consider a “worst case scenario” which is a good thing but not during a crisis situation. See mistakes and fiasco’s as avenues for improvement. Always believe that in every mistake lies the learning of how to do it right the next time around.

Indeed, there will always come a time for a crisis to crop up in a business. No matter how big or small, it is imperative to craft a robust crisis management system. In doing so, you can simply expect the unexpected and formulate solution to mitigate, if not eliminate, the issue at hand.

How Self Esteem Shape Up Life and Business Decisions

Allison Todd — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 20:57:00 +0000

You are what you think. How many times have we heard this over the course of our lifetime? Philosophers with their sage wisdom had written that we become what we continually think of ourselves. Our thoughts basically become our action guide. So, if you think so low of yourself, do you honestly believe that success awaits you? Self-esteem is a game-changer in business and in life in general. But what really is self-esteem?

Self-Esteem

There are so many definitions about self-esteem. Sense of worth, confidence, and self-respect are just some of those listed in online dictionaries. It is basically that inner monologue telling you if you are good enough to achieve something or if you can actually do it. It is how one values himself. It is your own assessment on who you are and what you’re capable of. In most cases, however, your thoughts get askew with other people’s perception and treatment.

It is important to note that self-esteem runs parallel with talent or genius or expertise. You can be good in so many things but still have low regard for yourself. On the other spectrum, there are also people who, amid their lack of ability or talent, can project strong self-esteem. With this, it is logical to see that having low regards of oneself will impact directly one’s decision-making capabilities and behavior in general.

Room for Improvement

There are many ways to boost one’s dwindling self-esteem. But before that, it is essential to recognize some of its likely causes. Do you have issues with your talent and capacity? Have you encountered a life-changing failure or a series of poorly made decision that made you question your capabilities? Do you have acquired habits that continually erode your sense of self-respect? Are there people around you who made you feel inadequate?

Recognizing that you have a self-esteem problem and identifying some of its likely causes will make it easier for you to address them. While everybody is different, there are certain ground rules which anyone can apply:

Be prepared all the time. In everything we do, preparation is a vital tool that will shield you from any anxiety or roadblocks turn your way. When you know precisely what you are talking about, you can gain full control of your emotions and create decisions with more clarity and precision.

Be kinder to yourself. It may sound humble to criticize your shortcomings to others but doing so will negatively ricochet unto yourself. People’s perception will be torn both ways and this could impact your own perception about yourself. So, at the very least, be kind to yourself.

Stop complaining, procrastinating, and overthinking! Everyone have issues of their own. What could be simple to you can be devastating to another person. Wallowing in negativity will only isolate you from the rest and prevent solutions from shaping up.

Try to uplift yourself every now and then by celebrating your victories no matter how simple or small. Boosting your own morale does not have to be a gargantuan effort. Treat yourself to a full body massage in your favorite spa. Buy something to make you feel special. For every victory won, you are actually raising your confidence level.

Learn the beauty of mindfulness through yoga or meditation. This helps to relax the overthinking mind, bring more focus to your commitments and stimulates sources of pure joy. It also helps channel nerves and tension to lucrative means.

But while self-help may be effective to others, developing a robust self-esteem can vary from situation to situation and from person to person. Some people can take themselves from a rut and improve their confidence level without seeking out outside help. Others, however, take refuge from the assistance of friends, colleagues, a mentor or a coach. Whichever way it maybe, it is imperative to address low self-esteem to prevent dilemmas from cropping up in business and in life in general.

Of Motivation, Goal-Setting and Success

Allison Todd — Sun, 05 Nov 2017 12:30:54 +0000

What motivates you? Do you have a goal in mind? What does success means to you? Indeed, living through life with a goal in mind can be moving. Not only do the ins and outs of your action plans consume you, it will also hammer into the true grit you have been holding to make it happen, to matter, or to succeed. There is no better satisfaction than this—achieving long cherished goals and becoming a success out of your own hard work.

Correlating Motivation, Goal-setting and Success

Regardless of what you have in mind, it is known fact that your life’s strongest pursuit is that of the realization of your dreams. Your focus is to ensure that you land that dream job or get a promotion, or be successful with your startup business, or simply have a happy family, raise equally successful kids, or be a model citizen in the community. Each one of you is beholden to such challenges. The part when you start to work on the achievement of such goals, however, must start somewhere.

It is important to start on building your personal goals.

While motivation, personal goals and success are directly correlated, it is imperative to draw out your personal goals before everything. These goals will become your focus to motivate yourself to succeed. Setting personal goals is like turning on a car’s ignition. Motivation, on the other hand, is your way of driving continually and to go through every bump and puddle to ultimately arrive at success, your destination. By correlating these three aspects, you can guarantee facing life’s many challenges without flinching or backtracking.

Personal Goals Unraveled

Personal goals can come in many forms. It could be academic, career, monetary, physical, creative, or ethical. These goals collectively point to your own domestic goals or how you wish to live life in the future. These personal goals come with two important perspectives—motivation and continuing direction.

To be useful however, experts suggested making your goal-setting SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timed. You need to know exactly what you want to be able to find ways to achieve them. To make sure that you can assess your progress, you need to set certain metrics. Of course, it must be realistic, relevant, and attainable—and to be more effective, a timeline must be set for the achievement of such goals.

But just because you create SMART goals then, that should be enough is a totally erroneous mindset. The world is also moving as you trudge in the realization of those goals. With this, you need to assess and re-assess your personal goals every step of the way. You need to check if such goals are still relevant or if you are still on the right track. In some cases, what you felt was of utmost importance before could no longer be as relevant due to sudden shifts in your life, job or business. If there is a need to rehash, improve or completely change them, then do so.

Goals must be solid enough to be able to move you, stimulate you to carry on, excite you. When these three concepts – goals, motivation and success—are properly aligned, you are definitely on the way for greatness.