Goal-setting, Accountability and Why You DON'T Need a Business Coach

Sit down and see what's going on with the Queen of Salons. Hair, beauty, and more successful tips for business owners. All on Build Your Salon. Hello, hello, hello, my salon friend, and my goodness, you're looking good. How the devil are you? Achingly well, I hope. I hope January 2023 is treating you well. And if it's not, send it round to my place for a little slap. Now, today we're talking goal setting and accountability and why you might not actually need a coach at all. My goodness, shooting oneself in the foot, I think we call this. And I've deliberately left this episode to the end of January because I didn't want it to get lost in all the goal setting madness that goes on between Christmas and New Year's and in that first week of January. It's a bit like all the craziness going on at the gym, isn't it? If you've been to the gym this month, gosh, lots of strangers and new friends to make acquaintance. So the point is that goal setting is not something that should be just part of your New Year's resolutions, though it's a good time to get some momentum. It's a good time to get some buy in to those 2023 goals. But goal setting should be something that's happening all the time and we should be revisiting those goals. So I've got some do's and don'ts on effective goal setting. Then I want to talk a little bit about accountability because that's kind of the secret source for goal setting. And then at the end, I want to take a few minutes to explore whether you actually need a coach because January is also, of course, our busiest time in coaching when most people are making inquiries about coaching and mentoring. And sometimes it's just not a great fit. And sometimes they don't need a coach or a mentor at all. So I want to unpack that a little bit, too, and incur the wrath of coaches everywhere. So let's set some better goals, shall we? Because we know that goals are really important if we're going to achieve our aspirations and create that sense of purpose over 2023. And we've got to get this right because if you get goals wrong, well, that's kind of more demotivating. It's almost worse than not setting any goals in the first place if we do a bad job of this. So we've got to get it right. It's a bit like, oh, my goodness, I can feel a sports analogy coming on, listener.

I don't know where this is coming from, I'm sure. But it's a bit like getting laughed at and ridiculed in the physical education changing room. It doesn't really inspire you and motivate you to get out there and score some points, goals. I don't know. The analogy ran out along with my sports knowledge, I'm afraid, darling. But we've got to get this right if we're going to stay motivated. So a few do's and don'ts to keep you on the right track. And firstly, I don't want you to just set goals that are going to take the whole year. What I want is a mixture of short term and long term goals. And some of those goals can take more than a year. In fact, I've always said that your goals should form part of a five year plan, ideally, if not longer, if you can broaden the horizon. But goal setting is a skill like any other. A muscle that needs exercising. And God, what is it with me in the fitness stuff this year? My goodness, what a change in the air. But that goal setting muscle takes time to build up. And sometimes we can only set short term goals for a while. And then after we've got some momentum, after we've got a sense of achievement, after we've started to tick some of these goals off, we can start to broaden our horizons a little bit. We do this a lot in marketing calendars as well. So sometimes we can only see the next week. And it takes some time before we can start to open our eyes a little wider and start planning our marketing for a month. And then once we've got the hang of that, we can start looking at a quarter and then a 12 month. And it's the same with goal setting. So have some short term goals in there. If you're brilliant at goal setting, have some short term goals in there as well. Because those short term wins help you see some progress along the way. They help you stay motivated, help you keep focus. They provide that sense of accomplishment and they can keep you on track. So even those longer term goals, I would break down as much as possible into short term wins as well. But we need those longer term goals because that's your vision for the future. That's helping you stay focused and motivated on those larger aspirations. Moving your life and your business towards the glorious picture, which of course you deserve. My next pro tip is that you must write your goals down. It helps make the goal much more concrete and helps you keep track of your progress as well. And this isn't just me making stuff up. There is actually academic research behind this. And I'm going to quote a study now. The Journal of Applied Psychology said that individuals who wrote their goals down were 33% more likely to achieve them than those who didn't.

Now, I'm almost a bit suspicious when the statistic is 33%. I think, well, did they only look at three people then? But let's assume this is a proper psychological study. And it certainly plays out as far as my own coaching and mentoring is concerned. The power of writing goals down is immense. It increases focus, increases commitment and makes you kind of own the goal a little bit more. It makes it feel like it's something that you've specifically put in place rather than it being imposed on you. So the goal becomes more concrete. It becomes more tangible, helps increase your motivation. And also, I would encourage you to write these goals out by hand. And it also increases the sense of accountability that you have to yourself. When goals are written down, you're more likely to feel a sense of commitment and responsibility towards achieving them. And I'm going to go old school. Now, those of you who have been listening to me, I'm assuming there's more than one listener by this stage of the game, darling. But those of you who have been listening for more than a few episodes will know that I'm a bit of a nerd, a bit of a geek. I love my technology. I love my software. I love an app. Anytime there's, I can waste hours, honestly. Anytime there's a new note-taking app, I can move all my notes over. It can take me days and days and days, and I love it. But when it comes to goal setting and journaling, I always go old school and I write things out longhand. Now, I know that in our industry, we attract a high number of people that find written communication tricky. But I want you to persist with this because this is only for your reference. So even though it might not be grammatically correct, even though it might not make sense to somebody who was reading your notes back, as long as they make sense to you, you're still going to get the benefits of writing these goals down. Because by writing by hand, we're increasing that retention and understanding. It's a bit like when we used to be at school and we had to write handwritten notes. And there's another study coming up, darlings. In psychological science, writing by hand is proven to be more effective for learning and retention for students. And it was the same when we were at school, wasn't it? We were always copying stuff down from the board in the old days. I'm sure it's a bit more high tech now. The other thing that I like about writing goals by hand is that we have to think stuff through. It's a bit more of a mindful process. It's a more reflective process. Slows down your thinking so that you're really thinking about the goals that you're setting rather than just quickly typing them out or worse still, copy and pasting them.

So it increases the thoughtfulness, the intentionality behind the goals that are being set. I'm a big fan of bullet journaling. So I'm writing things out by hand every single day. And one feature of bullet journaling is that if you didn't accomplish a task today, you have to write it out again longhand for tomorrow. And my goodness, it doesn't half make you think about what you're going to achieve in a day. When you're writing stuff out again and again and again, it really does reinforce the importance of getting that task achieved. If for no other reason than you're sick to death of writing it out. When it comes to setting your goals, the magic phrase that I use in all of my goal setting programs and all of my coaching is that goals need to be challenging but achievable. So they've got to be challenging, they've got to stretch you to achieve just that little bit more than you thought might be possible. But don't take this too far. And I see this in students regularly and I have to rein them in a little. So if your business is ticking over quite nicely at, let's say, $3,000 a week, and then you decide in your goal setting that you're going to take that to $50,000 a week. Of course, I applaud your intentions. Of course, I want you to be ambitious. But to get from $3,000 to $50,000 without a really solid plan and maybe some smaller sub goals along the way is an enormous task. Almost overwhelming. Almost starts to feel completely unachievable. And again, that's going to be more demotivating than it is motivating. So keep it challenging, stretch yourself, be ambitious, but also make sure that your goals are achievable so that it's not leading to frustration or disappointment. Next up, I want you to make sure your goals are smart goals. I'm not going to spend lots of time talking about smart goals. I hate it, in fact, because it's such a cliche almost, but it's an amazing framework for setting effective goals. And any time you've got a goal which is starting to go adrift a little bit or you're feeling that it's not really delivering, put it through the smart process. Is it specific? Is it measurable? Is it attainable? Is it relevant to your bigger life ambitions? And is it time bound? And then those criteria, they really do ensure that your goals are really clearly defined and easy to track.

But there's lots and lots of content out there. I'm not going to spend minutes talking through smart goals. I'm sure you've come across this before. We alluded to it earlier, but I really do want you to be breaking your goals down into smaller, manageable tasks. So if you've got a long term goal or a large project, we've got to chip some bits off that. And because of the industry that we're in, because of the way that our mind works, what I'm going to encourage you to do is keep breaking those goals down until you've got something you can diarize. So let's say I'm going to write a new book this year. And I might. I probably won't. But let's say I was going to write a new book this year. That's a huge task. It's something that could take potentially weeks or months. It's something that is almost daunting. It's, you know, it's challenging, but it is achievable. But I don't quite know where to go from there. If I start to break it down into its stages, let's say there's a research stage and then there's a first draft stage and there's a polishing and refining and editing stage. And then we take that research stage and break it down into, let's say, five main topics that I'm going to cover in that book. And then we take each of those topics and break it down into the number of points that I want to make in each chapter. And then we start to diarize. I can say I'm going to spend two hours researching three topics for chapter one. My goodness, we can put that into my appointment book. And that's how we're used to working. So break your goals down until you've got them to the stage where you can put them in a diary, make an appointment with yourself. You are making an appointment with success. Damn it. I love it when we're making appointments with ourselves. I know that we're going to get somewhere then because appointments are just how we're used to thinking. Now, goal setting isn't just for January and dogs aren't just for Christmas, but it's something that we must revisit regularly. So book out some time during the year to go back through your goals, review your progress, make sure they're still relevant, because stuff changes during the year and it's OK if it's not relevant anymore. It's all right to abandon a goal. You don't have to keep flogging your guts out trying to achieve something that is no longer necessary, my dear. You have Uncle Phil's permission to cross it off the goal list if you don't need it anymore. If it's no longer relevant or it's become impossible to achieve, let's get rid. Let's adjust. Let's replace it with something else. But I would also make some time each month to set out what you're going to achieve over the next 30 days. You'd be amazed what we can achieve with that focus, that clarity. And that monthly goal setting session is also when I'm making those appointments with success.

But what about accountability? How does the secret sauce work on top of our goal setting? Are you feeling like you're stuck in a rut? Like you're just going through the motions or that whatever you do, the next level in your business stays just out of reach? Well, it's time to shake things up. With one-to-one coaching, you'll have buckets of support, inspiration and accountability to help you bring the buzz back to your salon business. Whether you're looking to achieve a specific goal or just feeling that things are lonely at the top and you want someone to coach you to be the best version of yourself, I am here to support you. And don't worry, even though it's called coaching, I won't make you join a gym and I will never suggest you give up your Toblerone habit. What's the alternative? More of the same? Come on, you can do better than that. Ping me an email at phil at buildyoursalon.com with the subject line coaching and I will send you all the details. I can't wait to help you on your journey to salon success. How do we use accountability? How can we spray accountability all over our goals in order to make them super, super achievable but super motivating as well? How does accountability work? What is it? Well, it's sharing your goals with somebody else and that could be a friend, it could be a family member, it could be a coach or a mentor. Someone who's going to help you stay accountable and stay motivated as you're working towards your goals. And it really is crucial in goal setting. It really does make sure that the goals that you set are actually going to be achieved. Because the world is a busy, distracting, noisy place. My goodness, the apps and notifications are there to distract you, to pull you away from your sense of purpose. They're designed to turn into these wormholes of time. My goodness, how much time can I waste on Instagram Reels? Flipping Henry. You know, I caught myself the other day, I spent 45 minutes, 45 of my minutes mind you, watching somebody cleaning rugs. It was absolutely hypnotic, I couldn't get enough of it. But that's not moving me towards my goals. But this is what we're up against is this enormous process, this industry designed to take our attention away. And accountability helps you stay on track, helps you keep your motivation higher, helps us reduce that distraction, which could lead to a lack of progress or even just abandoning your goals altogether.

So accountability needs regular check-ins, regular progress updates. So when you're being held accountable, you also need some kind of feedback loop. And I have an accountability partner. You may know him, actually. His name's Adam. He's also a salon business coach. And we have a call about once every few weeks and we hold each other accountable. We spell out exactly what we're going to achieve in the next few weeks. And then we use Facebook Messenger to drop in every now and again. But by the time I speak to Adam next time, there's a very clear list of the things that I want to achieve. And of course, I could achieve those things on my own. But my goodness, I'm much more motivated if I feel like Adam's going to kick my ass if I haven't done what I said I was going to do. And sometimes that accountability can be very, very public. One of my business mentors, for example, Craig Ballantyne, made a very public declaration around cursing. He didn't want to be swearing anymore. Bloody. There you go. And he made this very public declaration and said, any time you catch me cursing, you pull me up on it. I want this to be a habit that I break. I want this to be something that I sort very quickly. And I've seen people make that kind of public declaration around their eating. I've seen them make that public declaration around drinking alcohol, for example. So sometimes it doesn't have to be a one to one accountability relationship. It can be something that's a little bit more obvious to a larger group of people. I personally am not such a fan of those public declarations, because I think that one to one relationship that I have with Adam around accountability fosters more of a sense of responsibility. But more importantly, because he understands what I'm up against, he understands the game that I'm playing, he understands the industry that I'm in. He's also very good at identifying any potential obstacles or challenges or pulling me up on things that I just haven't thought through. So I think that slightly more private accountability can actually have a lot more power. But horses for courses, and of course, there's no reason why you have to be accountable to one person. You can have one accountability buddy for some goals and a different accountability for others. For example, I wouldn't necessarily go to Adam. If I had a weight loss goal, I would probably find somebody else to hold me accountable. But there's some magic in this. You're much more likely to take ownership of those goals. And somehow we work harder to achieve them. That means we've got bigger, greater motivation, more commitment. And ultimately, it means that we achieve better results as well. I guess, ultimately, it's a bit of positive pressure in order for us to meet our goals.

And it makes it much more likely for us to follow through on those commitments. But surely then, Uncle Phil, surely, if accountability is so important and powerful, we should be turning to a professional for that. Of course, we should be paying you lots of money to be our coach or our mentor. Well, not necessarily. My Salon Owners Retreat is a unique event where you get to create the agenda. This isn't a retreat of boring presentations in conference rooms without windows. The entire program is a mix of group coaching, mastermind sessions, and one-to-one coaching with me, your favorite salon coach. There's also time built in for implementation. Yes, you're going to leave the retreat having actually got some important work done on your business with our support. Our spring 2023 retreat is now sold out. But you can be the first to hear about the next Salon Owners Retreat and get the very best early bird pricing by heading to buildyoursalon.com and joining our wait list. I can't wait to see you on Salon Owners Retreat. Don't forget your speedos. Why on earth would I, a person who's made a very nice living, thank you very much, out of coaching in the salon and spa industry, why would I tell you not to turn to a coach? Well, you don't always need one. And firstly, I've already said that accountability process could be with all sorts of different people and sometimes somebody who's in the trenches with you is a more effective accountability partner than a coach or a mentor. Particularly if your coach or mentor isn't industry specific. We need someone who's going to be able to point out those bumps in the road. And if they're going through that journey with you, sharing experience, that can be incredibly motivating as well. So what is a coach there for? What do we actually do? In my mind, a coach is there for clarity. It's someone to put a bit of pressure on your decision making process. A bit of pressure on that vision and plan that you have for your life and for your business. And to squeeze out the real motivation for achieving. Then we can start worrying about accountability after. Very often I encounter people who have very big ambitions and huge plans, but they just don't know where to start. They've got stuck in the fog.

They don't know how to navigate these business decisions. Or sometimes the relationship is more of a mentoring relationship where actually they want some specific advice on certain situations. And we're going to talk about that in just a second. Where I think every industry coach out there would agree though, is that coaching is never helpful. If the business owner, if the salon owner, if you, my darling, are not ready to put the necessary time and effort in to make positive changes. Not everybody is coachable. Or certainly not everybody is coachable right now. We can provide guidance and support, but ultimately it's your business, your responsibility. And I have in the past made terrible decisions about people that I signed up for coaching. And the alarm bells were there. They weren't taking responsibility. They weren't ready to step up and make changes in their business. And essentially what they wanted was me to start making decisions for them. And that's not a coaching relationship anymore. That's a management relationship. And if you want to pay me as a consultant and manager in your business, well, we can talk about that separately, but that's not coaching anymore. If you're not committed to the process, it doesn't matter how good your coach is going to be. You're never going to achieve those desired results. And sometimes, to be honest, you just can't afford a coach right now. If you haven't got the budget for a coach or you don't see the value in investing in coaching services, then don't go there. The last thing I would want as a coach is to be the reason you're sitting up at night worrying about money. We should be adding value, making finances easier. And in the medium and longer term, of course, we're going to want to see some financial results from our coaching. But in the short term, if you're sweating and can't pay the rent, I wouldn't want you as a coaching client anyway. And my final point on this, and actually the most important point, is sometimes you don't need a coach for the situation that you're in. Sometimes you need someone who's been there, done that, bought the fridge magnet. If you have big problems with recruitment in your business, you could go to a coach and you could explore your mindset around that and your scarcity mindset around candidates. But ultimately, you're going to get better advice quicker and much more achievable, tangible steps to implement in your business. Strategies you can work on straight away. If you've got someone who's got experience in recruitment in the salon industry, if you've got someone who's achieved what you want to achieve, tap into their expertise, tap into their mentorship. If you need help with marketing, if you're struggling to get bums on seats, find someone who has successfully marketed their own salon business.

We're going to get those tangible strategies that we can just slot in, copy and paste and send. So yes, of course, it's important to work on your mindset. I'm not saying mindset work isn't important, though I've noticed, my dear, that I have started to be misquoted as saying that we shouldn't work on mindset at all. Of course, we should be working on mindset. But what I'm saying is when you're starving, when you don't have enough money coming in, when you're struggling to pay the rent, keep the lights on, keep your team paid, mindset work isn't going to help you. What we need is some strategies that we can just get more cash flowing into the business. We need specific tried and tested strategies, shortcuts, hints, tips to help us achieve those goals much more quickly. Then once we've got the mental breathing space, then we can start worrying about the mindset. And I'm not saying we put this off indefinitely. I'm not even saying we put it off more than maybe two or three months. But in that very short term, what we need is cash in the till. So there we have it. My take on goal setting, accountability, coaching, mentoring and all things in between. If there's anything in here that you found useful, please reach out to me, phil at buildyoursalon.com. You know that an email from you is going to make my day. If you want to make my week and you found this podcast useful, then why not leave me a review and a rating? I always think five stars look best on the screen. And of course, don't forget to follow just seven short days until I'm coming in your ears again with more madness from the wise old owl of the salon industry. Until we speak again, take care. Sit down and see what's going on with the queen of salons. Hair, beauty and more successful tips for business owners. All on build your salon.