I often get stuck in the weeds with project specifics, leaving me with little time to focus on actually developing the business – hopefully this new way of measuring will help me prioritise my time.
I’ll be honest, I don’t really know how to set up business goals. For the past 4 years, my only ‘proper’ goal is setting a number of projects to publish, and I couldn’t even do that! I’m being a little hard on myself, but it’s time to learn from these things. Maybe I’ll chronicle myself making these goals for year 5.
Following my last blog, I’ve worked on building business goals based on the new ‘business year’ I’m operating under, running from August to July in accordance with my year-end. I used suggestions from Adobe to put together some development goals and turn them into actionable steps for my new Q1.
Complete a SWOT analysis
Where do you want the company to be in 5 years?
Where did you want the company to be 5 years ago?
Break 5 year plan into yearly increments
Break yearly increments into quarterly goals
Incorporate KPIs
Clarify goals to make them SMART
Align goals with day-to-day workflow
Measure goals regularly
That was a lot of business words.
The first thing I did was take a look at the goals set in the original business plan along with the mission statement (which you will know has changed recently – oh look, I’ve brought up Karen again!). I wanted to see whether I had accurately predicted what I could achieve with the little experience I had;
2022 Vision Statement
supporting unheard voices
supporting the community
supporting the earth
2022 Goals/Objectives
hire first full-time graduate employee by 2025
publish 2 novels by Dec 2023
make £18,000 by July 2023
find sustainable printing by 2023
Okay, let’s break this down.
Whilst my vision statement was noble, it was far too vague. Whose voices? What community? And supporting the earth is far to large for a 1-person business. You can now see why I’ve updated it to “Welsh culture, Welsh people, Welsh stories” – far more succinct and encompasses what I now want the business to become.
As you can see, the goals are a reflection of how little I knew about the industry or about running a business (either that or I have spectacularly failed). I gave myself a single year to complete most of these goals, bearing in mind I still had 6 months on a dissertation to finish. And I expected to not only pay myself, but also someone else full-time within three years of setting up? On top of that, I didn’t publish my first novel until 2025 – happenstance more than anything else. I’m still using print-on-demand services, but with a much better company than IngramSpark or KDP.
I then looked at two SWOT analysis, the original from 2022 and an updated one from 2023.
2022
Strengths
Young director – new ideas and energy
Niche clientele, wide product range
Updated knowledge – recent graduate
Full-time – no other job that requires time
2 publications already, another 1 preparing
Weaknesses
Limited funding
Small employee pool – just 1
Young director – lack of industry experience
Limited resources – using KDP over potentially more expensive local resources
Oportunities
Networking – SYP member, active on Twitter
Investigate and support local resources/businesses/event
Threats
Limited clientele with limited funds
Other limited resources taken up by other competitors
2023
Strengths
completely remote therefore contact with anyone at any time
fully independent therefore no additional business legislation or added red tape to move through to achieve goals
small number of staff therefore reduced exchange between multiple members of staff (reduce confusion and miscommunication) as well as creating an atmosphere where the staff and clients can foster a more personal relationship (help the clients feel comfortable and establishes trust in the staff/brand)
new and up to date training therefore able to provide reliable and quality services
young staff therefore more energy
newer ideas
more understanding of newer technology
no upfront cost to the client (only royalties) therefore no risk to client (more appealing)
Weaknesses
no designated office space therefore no in-person meetings (or meetings will have to be held in temporarily rented office or public space e.g. cafe, which requires extra funding)
small number of staff therefore responsibilities attributed to each person increases (one staff member may be required to take on more than one job role, which will increase stress and time management issues)
limited funding therefore restrictions of training, events, staffing, and product development (cyclical – no funding so no training or networking events, so no funding, and so on)
young staff therefore less experience in traditional methods of the industry
Opportunities
one or more members of staff are members of IPSE (The Association of Independent Professionals and Self-Employed), IPG (Independent Publishers Group), or another industry group that provides networking and other events therefore more opportunities to network, sell products, and find clients
based in Wales therefore close to large cultural and literary festivals like Hay-on-wye and Eisteddfodd, one member of staff is a Bangor university alumni therefore has connections to young creatives
additional connections to Bangor University may lead to future opportunities to network and gain clients
Threats
small company can be dwarfed by any larger business that offers similar services
limited funding can lead to bankruptcy or a reduction in quality of products and services
small number of staff therefore responsibilities attributed to each person increases (one staff member may be required to take on more than one job role, which will increase stress and time management issues)
Even in a single year, you can see how much more I’ve learned about business; the fact that the analysis is so much longer is evidence of trial, error, and understanding. Given that the 2023 was considerably more in-depth, I didn’t feel the need to redo it – a job for the next review, maybe?
I moved on to thinking about when I want to set the benchmark – 5 years is suggested, but 2030 sounds nicer (it’s also the year in which I’m scheduling projects). What did I want to achieve by then? What did I think was reasonable? Here’s what I came up with;
Double backlist (+21 books)
Break even with my wages included (approx. £25,000)
Bring in enough permanent freelancers for each project
Naturally, the next step is to break them down into yearly steps.
26/27
- publish approx. 4 books (backlist=24)
- +£5,000 revenue (£7,000 annual)
- keep working with work experience students
27/28
- publish approx. 4 books (backlist=28)
- +£5,000 revenue (£12,000 annual)
- work with/build quality of freelancers
28/29
- publish approx. 4 books (backlist=32)
- +£5,000 revenue (£17,000 annual)
- increase % share for freelancers
29/30
- publish 4 books (backlist=26)
- +£5,000 revenue (£22,000 annual)
- plan ahead with freelancers
Stay with me now, I’m nearly done.
Ignoring the rest for now, I delved deeper into the 26/27 goals to split them per quarter.
Q1
publish 2 books (BHG and 50RTL)
update investment document and track sales
check in with current freelancers/work experience students
Q2
publish 2 books (THOU and TIP)
understand how bookshops and booksellers operate
utilise freelancers more (within their workload)
Q3
publish 1 book (Morg)
secure 1 regular bookshop
maintain freelancer relationships
Q4
publish 1 book (SCHTB)
have 4 titles sticked in 1 bookshop permanently
maintain freelancer relationships
Okay, I’m done with the lists now.
Q1 starts in August, and I’m cautiously interested to see how this new plan goes. Are these goals even suitable? Are they too easy? Am I setting myself up to fail later in the year? Is this even the best way to build the business?
