Goal Setting

The thing about working for yourself, as E would say, is that your boss always knows when you aren't working.

I'd add: And you keep seeing what you haven't done, or what you've done completely wrong.

The first month, printing out business cards takes all of your resources, because you have to keep printing them on your inkjet printer. You know this is a bad use of your time, but then you can't get ahead enough to take the two hours to design business cards to send to a printer. And on top of that you want them to be perfect, so you keep trying things, and you want the flexibility of printing off a small run.

And THEN you realize you need a real damn logo, so you have to take the time for THAT. (Tip to small business owners: Hatchwise is thebomb.com.). In between those things is trying to design adwork, trying to run a storefront, and trying to, you know, actually build a product. Several of them. And, like, sleep.

Because in a startup, you do EVERYTHING. Everything from designing ads to writing the business plan to taking out the trash. Meetings with government and venture capitalists and project planners. Loan paperwork.

Send coffee.

I also have no idea what, if anything, this post has to do with goal setting. I think I was going to make some point that setting goals and achieving them--meeting with X, business cards sent--seems like it would help, seems like it would give you some sense of accomplishment, but it totally doesn't because those things aren't goals at all; they are steps to achieving your goals, or more like steps to Being A Business Professional.

Sending off a business card design won't net you a purchase the next day, but it DOES allow you to hand them out at cocktail parties, which is really the same thing.

Oh, wait, it's not?

The problem is that customers won't come in and say, "Oh, I saw your ad in The Stranger/picked up one of your business cards at Vivace/saw your Facebook page in a friend's feed." (Actually, that last one HAS happened to us, so...win?) The lack of transparency makes every decision, especially when on a budget, fraught with anxiety, with the fear of spending money on garbage and creating excess waste. "Those postcards have to be perfect, they cost us $458!" "Could the business cards POP a little more? I mean, we ARE going to have 250 of them." Etc.

Why should I get business cards at all? How can I tell that they will help me get customers? Will the bank magically loan me more money?