When I was training new franchisees, they would come in and tell me about the moment that made them want to own their own business. One of my favorite stories is when a woman told us how she wanted to open her own restaurant because she hated working at restaurants where customers treated her like an inconvenience.

A guy in the back of the room got up and told us about a time he was at Yankee Stadium one night, watching an intense game between two rival teams.

Roger Clemens was on the mound, ready to break Joe DiMaggio’s record for 20 wins. But before he could do that, it started raining and the game had to be called.

The next morning, he slept for an hour because the train schedule was too inconvenient. While he got dressed for work, all of a sudden his TV turned on and showed that there were two World Trade Centers (he had never seen this before). One Tower fell down.

I was lucky to be on a train that passed the World Trade Center when it collapsed. I had a long talk with myself and made the decision to move to Florida, where I could have my own retail business. I’ve been doing this for a while and I’m so happy to see you all here.

Story

That story left me in tears. I have never seen a better way to motivate people than telling them the truth and getting their commitment.

Goal setting is a process of figuring out what you want to accomplish and then planning how to get there.

A vision statement is like a mission statement – you can always refer to it and see if you’re on track. It’s an excellent way of keeping yourself accountable for the risks that lie ahead.

The motivation behind what you do is the key to making changes. Seeing how your future will look if you don’t follow through with a plan can help motivate change.

Achieving a goal can be tough. Click To Tweet

It’s not always easy, and you might even fail at it the first time around. But if that doesn’t discourage you from pursuing your dreams then why should anything else?

It’s not enough to just make something and hope that people will come. You need outside help or education in order to get there.

Let’s face it, if you already knew what to do and how to get there, then you would have done that by now.

In their landmark book, Built to Last, James Collins and Jerry Porras assert that in order for a company to thrive they need one big hairy audacious goal or BHAG.

With companies like Google and Apple, this is exciting. But for most other organizations it’s a major challenge because attracting talented millennial employees to non-profits or tech firms can be difficult.

I have a friend who went to work for Apple and with Steve Jobs, helped create the famous Think Different marketing campaign. They also worked on a BHAG that saved their company from going under.

But the truth is, most of us won’t set our own goals and we will end up like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. But that doesn’t mean goal-setting isn’t valuable.

Leadership

If you want to change your retail business, it’s important that you stop being afraid of the past. That can be a fear in and of itself because looking back often makes people scared about what might happen next.

By constantly looking to the future, you have to let go of what happened in the past. Click To Tweet

There is a trade-off in letting go of the past. If you want to live fully, then it’s necessary for you to let some things from your old life stay behind.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to set a good example for your team. If you’re not willing to put in the work, then they won’t either.

Goal Setting Tips

When you’re designing a new product, it’s important to start with the ‘why’ instead of the ‘what’.

Why do you want to change?

You might be thinking of keeping your family business in the name.

Is there a possibility that you will open more locations?

Have you noticed that your customer base has shifted? You might need to update your retail business model if this is the case.

Take the time to understand what’s going on inside of you. The first step is being still and listening.

It’s easy to get bogged down in regrets when you’re brainstorming. But, if you want the best ideas possible, don’t focus on what might have been.

It’s easy to say “I don’t want” but you should try using the positive. For example, instead of saying I don’t want a certain trait in my employees, tell them what traits you do want.

The next step is to set a clear, high-priority goal. You can’t have five different goals and expect them all to be accomplished; that will only scatter your focus.

I think it’s important to have a goal that will challenge you, so do your best!

What is the end goal of this? How will you know when it’s been achieved? Can we measure some sort of metric to tell us that, like a conversion rate or something similar?”

Set a deadline for yourself. Make it clear to yourself when you will be finished with the task.

If you want to see your goals come true, the first step is to write them down. Put a post-it note on your monitor or write it in your wallet so that every time you look at it, you’ll remember what’s important.

When you have a single goal, it’s important to break that plan down into manageable chunks and allocate time accordingly.

Make sure you don’t confuse the tasks that are being done to achieve a goal with actually achieving it.  A task is just something that needs to be completed in order for us to accomplish our goals, but they’re not the actual achievement.

One of the best ways to keep yourself motivated is by surrounding yourself with people who can give you a fresh perspective and provide guidance.

I’ve always been an open book about my goals, so when I told them what I was doing they were happy to help me through the highs and lows. They knew that there wasn’t a guarantee of success at first but it’s worth trying.

So if you’re trying to achieve something, keep your eye on the prize. Get educated and find some inspiration for what you want out of life.

That’s why you should keep your eyes on the retail store.

A lot of people think that one thing is the only thing they need to focus on, but I learned with my Florida franchisee that it doesn’t matter what you’re working towards if your business isn’t profitable. 

You can also change your goals.

Just follow the process again to make sure that you’re still on track with what you want.

For those of you who work in a retail store, there are a few simple ways to increase your margins and make more money.

Conclusion

In the movie Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is on a mission to end all wars. It’s as simple as that.

Luke’s friends are the ones who actually help him out.

The Force will help him on his journey and he needs to get training with the lightsaber. He also has allies that can be there for him when things are hard.

In the Star Wars movie, Luke Skywalker is about to destroy a Death Star with his missile while all of the other ships are breaking apart around him.

It’s really important to set goals and work hard for them. Setting a goal is like creating an aim, getting educated on what it takes to succeed in the industry, and going all out.

Goal setting is not just something you do once in a while. It should be an everyday activity to keep your business afloat.

Here’s a quick and easy process to set your goals for the future, so you can change directions in life.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had a hard time staying motivated. The good news is that there are many ways to motivate yourself without having to rely on anyone else for motivation.

Achieving your marketing goals for the retail market doesn’t have to be a mystery. Find the right ways and means of getting there.