Impressions - May 2019 - 44

Once your goals have been vividly defined,
then you should implement milestones,
which are slightly different than objectives.
Finally, the most important part of defining the people is to clearly define your
role in the sublimation business. Even if
your sublimation business is a part-time,
one-person show, you should define your
role as if it was at the peak of success. Consider the parts of the business about which
you are passionate about and love the most.
3. Clarify your goals and milestones.
Without goals, you likely would turn away
from the first challenge you face. Having a
bad day or week is inevitable.Some mistakes
may cost your company big money, but you
will learn some tough lessons about why
setting expectations with your customer is
important. Maybe you just had a string of
bad luck with some "bad-apple" customers.
Either way, don't let fear - whether it's of
challenges or success - deter you.
You can't have a successful sublimation
business without clear goals. But our brains
don't think in terms of words; rather, they
are influenced by all of our senses. For
example, upon hearing the word "Thanksgiving," your brain probably recalls images
of you with your family, perhaps sounds
of football in the background, the smell of
your favorite part of theThanksgiving meal
and how you felt after eating too much.
We also have to think this way about goals,
as our minds don't differentiate between
what is real and what's not when thinking
about things in vivid detail. Once your goals
have been vividly defined, then you should
implement milestones, which are slightly
different than objectives. Milestones are the
specifics of how you will get to the steps
on the path to success.
For objectives that everyone working in
your business can follow - allowing you to
see the finish line - they must be specific,
measurable, achievable, relevant, trackable,
elevated and revised (SMARTER).
Let's say your vivid goal is to make your
sublimation business a full-time money
source. Here is an example of a SMARTER objective that can be used to achieve
that goal:
Specific: Earn $3,000 per month in
net profits.
Measurable: Calculate true costs in
order to tabulate the monthly net profit.
Achievable: Based on the ideal cusP.44

tomer and order, you need 10 teams.
Relevant: Your community has at least
that many teams that want to raise money
for themselves and you can handle the
production volume.
Trackable: Your business must earn
$3,000 per month in net profits for three
consecutive months.
Evaluated: Each month, you will record
your progress by tracking specific metrics.
Revised: After reviewing what has
been tracked each month, you can adjust
the strategy.This includes making a judgThe real value of creating a business
plan lies in the process of researching
and thinking about your business in
a systematic way.

i m p r e s s i o n s m a g . c o m MAY 2019

ment regarding whether you need more
teams, increased efficiency in production,
or whether you should offer different items.
Use such a strategy to reassess any part
of your business that is keeping you from
achieving your goal. 
Aaron Montgomery has been involved with the garment-decorating and personalization industry since
2000 and the digital-printing industry since 1997.
He co-hosts the 2 Regular Guys industry podcast
at 2regularguys.com, and you can find blogs about
a wide range of topics at aaronmontgomery.info.

http://www.2regularguys.com http://www.aaronmontgomery.info http://www.impressionsmag.com

Impressions - May 2019

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