Setting SMART Goals for the Summer
By Brian Ruhlmann of Craft Hot Sauce, 2020 Summer Cohort
Entering the Thursday class during the third week of the EforAll Lawrence/Lowell Summer business accelerator program, it felt like we were starting to get our EforAll sea legs.
For many of the entrepreneurs in the program, the first two weeks felt like a whirlwind with us thinking about our businesses in different ways and doing a deep dive into our customers segments and matched value.
Coming into our Goals class, I had a much more precise focus on who I was serving and how my business would spark more joy and fill their meals WITH HOT SAUCE! It was the perfect time to learn more about goal setting and set the tone for the rest of the program.
My name is Brian Ruhlmann and I am the Founder of Craft Hot Sauce, a curated hot sauce membership program and the owner of Craic Sauce, a small-batch hot sauce company in Lowell, MA. If you look at my Evernote it is filled with goals and To-Do lists. Setting goals has helped me prioritize my efforts, but when my list ends up being 94 lines deep, I’m biting off a bit more than I can chew!
Shelley Cardoos, Director of Programs, spoke with our cohort about setting SMART Goals. Goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic/relevant, and time bound. Shelley shared that we should come up with 3 SMART goals and one stretch goal for the rest of the summer.
Narrowing my list of 94 items to 3 goals seemed like an impossible task in itself, but in my three weeks in EforAll, I’ve already experienced the benefits of narrowing your focus and prioritizing. Many of the Craft Hot Sauce goals were originally related to growth, but before I had the ability to scale I needed to do a better job of optimizing my operations and digital infrastructure.
I set three goals that I’ll be reviewing with my mentors next week. Two of the goals will have me slow down before I can speed up, and the third goal is around consistent delivery with my Craft Hot Sauce Podcast. I’m looking forward to hearing more about my peers goals as we work towards them together over the course of the summer!
