If you’ve ever read a book on how to start a successful business you’ve probably been told to “set realistic goals that you know you can accomplish”. Well that’s great – for those who aren’t entrepreneurial. Many entrepreneurs (including myself) aren’t satisfied with being mediocre at something and in my book “realistic” and “mediocre” essentially mean the same thing.
Here’s the problem – realistic goals don’t get you to the big leagues. In baseball if you set realistic goals you play little league and that is about it – you never pursue it any further because hitting the majors just isn’t realistic.
I used to set realistic goals, and I accomplished them. One day I started setting ridiculously high goals, and guess what? I accomplished those as well. Then it all seemed to click. I realized that what seemed “realistic” to me was simply what I already knew how to achieve. My unrealistically high goals weren’t really unrealistic at all I just simply didn’t know how to achieve them and had to make myself work harder along the way to figure it out.
Why waste time focusing on increasing your revenue by 10% over a 3 month span when you can shoot for 100% and push yourself to really innovate – many brick and mortar business rules don’t apply on the internet and this starts with scalability.
It’s not our fault that we set modest goals, our brains are wired that way. Regardless of how smart you are, you simply cannot comprehend the scale of the interent and this really evens out the playing field.
You need to train your mind to think BIG.
For Example: Twitter added 30 Million users in the past two months – this means that 370,000 people sign up every single day!
Zynga (the company that created Farmville) is now estimated to be worth more than Electronic Arts at $5.5 billion and is selling $1.6 billion a year in virtual goods on Facebook and other sites. People spend over $4,300,000 buying virtual cows and pigs every single day or $182,000 an hour!
Groupon (who I just bought some tickets from) was founded less than two years ago and is reported to be making more than $1 million in pure profit per WEEK and is already valued at over $1.3 billion.
Let’s say your online business is currently making $5,000 in profit a month but you are shooting for $10,000 sure $10k sounds realistic but we are talking about the INTERNET here – unlimited scalability! Why not shoot for $50,000 or $100,000 / month?
When you aim for larger goals you tend to take a more scalable approach. Instead of writing 3 articles a week for your site, you’ll write 3 a day. You may not hit $100,000 in the next month but you’ll probably soar right past that realistic goal you would have made.
For those of you who are doing 100k a month already – shoot for a mill.
Once you start setting ridiculously high goals you will have to challenge yourself a bit more but you will end up hitting the majors while your competitors are still playing t-ball.
Great analogy and solid advice. I’m motivated to move out of the minors and make it to the BIGS.
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, this was just what I needed to read. I have a tendency to think big..or I did, but I let the down economy and others dampen my ambition a bit. Must admit, that is my fault, but lately I have been flirting with some big goals and dreams again.
This was perfect timing to get me out of that rut and into the realm where anything is possible. Thank you for that!
Now, wait to you get a load of what I am working on!
Definitely makes sense to push past what you already know to be comfortable! Innovation comes when we stretch ourselves!
I see a far more nuanced reality. I’ve tried setting big goals. In my experience they usually fail. That’s why our brain’s our wired that way: our amygdalas notice the dopamine lows and warn us that we are headed for trouble. The human psyche is fragile and cannot handle too much failure all at once. I think big goals and modest goals should be set by trial and error. Test them. Try to figure out what works for you in your situation. Certainly set some big goals. Be brave, be bold. But don’t maniacally set big goals that continuously disappoint. Some businesses have longer gestation rates and must be grown slowly and surely. Those businesses are also worth pursuing. The rapid growth, quick profits businesses are rarer, but generate all the headlines. They are usually found by seeing an opportunity that no one else has seen and that no one else knows how to develop. So I think it is important to focus on doing what you see needs to be done that others are not doing. That will also invoke your passion and keep your commitment and determination strong. Sometimes you might be so far ahead of society and its markets that fast growth is impossible for now. But if the idea is important, eventually the reward will come. Which is another reason that even if setting big goals doesn’t work for you at first, you should keep trying to set some big goals. You want to be responsive when the market catches wind of your vision and moves it to the big leagues. Just balance them with more modest goals so that you avoid burnout (which has happened to me after some of my big goals flopped).
There is so much money that can be made out there. Incredible statistics!
I totally agree with CJFearnley’s post. I too have set big goals and tried my hardest to attain them with my limited capital. I always seem to come to the road block of funding and stagnant growth, which brings my back reality that I need to set a more modest goal like paying next months rent. I have not given up thinking that one day something I try will eventually bring millions (I mean BILLIONS). The success of companies such as facebook, twitter and groupon are more anomalies than they are business models. I’ve had the opportunity early 1990′s to work for a company by the name of Internet21. The individuals involved were intelligent, business savvy, well funded visionaries. Their big goals included ; surpassing AOL as an ISP, starting a world wide coupon site, creating a search engine that would rival toays’s GOOGLE.
These are BIG goals to say the least.
But due to some unforeseen roadblocks, the company was forced to disband.
Setting very big goals is almost tantamount to hitting the lottery, but you will never hit the lottery if you don’t play the lottery.
Keep playing ball, but be realistic.
Steve, great to hear from you!
I just re-watched Tony Robbins’ TED talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html
I agree with Tony: get enthused about something … something that is so important that even if you lose money on it, it would still be worth doing. Follow that emotional motivation.
My current business philosophy is to never be impeded by money. If the idea is good and my attachment to the idea is strong, then I want to pursue it the best I can. Even if the gestation rate for that idea on my budget is 50 years. Why not?
Tony Robbins says in his TED video, we are most fulfilled as people for our experiences, not how much money we make. Maybe money people (like Buck) who have committed to the experience of making-money need fulfillment to come through money. Fortunately, most of us do not have that commitment and so although we all need sufficient money to survive, we can be fulfilled by good life experiences and alternative commitments.
Interesting post and great motivation. Like some other money isn’t my aim but just doing everything I can to make me happy in my daily working life whilst paying the bills… Sure money helps there too but I don’t have specific goals. Maybe I should and maybe I should make them big!
@Steve It’s funny that you mentioned the lottery thing – every now and then I will run into someone and they will ask what I do and then after I tell them how I started a company and we are doing they will reply with something like “oh wow, you’re so lucky”.
People just assume that I fell into this, and that most people who are successful just get lucky when in reality I made my own luck.
I have been building web based businesses since I was 14 years old (almost 10 years now), have started hundreds of sites, most of which have not taken off. However I didn’t give up because I knew that it really only takes one site to hit it big – and eventually that was the case.
I was then able to take some of the capital from that one success and build upon the foundation for my business that I created – without taking any outside funding. Looking back I may have been at the right place at the right time with some of the big goals I set – but the great thing about the internet is that you can be more than one place at once.
@Chris “You want to be responsive when the market catches wind of your vision and moves it to the big leagues. Just balance them with more modest goals so that you avoid burnout (which has happened to me after some of my big goals flopped).” – Great point!
Dude – Loved it!
like your post alot man, i mean that, it makes so much sense and is very motivating keep it up!
I’m really enjoying these articles Kevin,
I’m going to give this a shot as well spot playing little league with my photo-shoots and start going after the big dogs for my campaigns! Too many times I’ve seen campaigns and said holly shit I could be doing that!
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DT. Tha Hustla
@DwayneTucker
Nassau, Bahamas | Miami, Florida
Great article, I’ve never been one to shoot for realistic goals to begin with. I believe in the quote “Shoot for the moon, even if you don’t make it you’ll land among the stars”
Great saying!