It’s that time of year when many of us are thinking about New Year's resolutions and personal goals.

But it’s also important to take some time out to reflect on and set goals for our business too.

When I was running my B&B, I was guilty of having a wishlist in my head of things I'd like to happen for my business, without actually getting my goals down on paper and figuring out what I needed to do to make them happen.

But by setting goals, writing them down and deciding what actions you need to take, you’re far more likely to actually turn them into reality. For example, maybe you often think that you’d like to get more direct bookings for your bed and breakfast. That’s far more likely to happen if you have a plan of actions in place rather than just hoping it might happen.

If you have yet to set up your B&B, then you will need a Business Plan. Goals are a big part of your business plan and showing any potential bank or other lender that you have a clear plan of action for creating a profitable B&B.

In the online course there is example Business Plan to get you started. In this week's podcast ( and accompanying blog post ) I've put down some ideas for creating some goals for your B&B and creating an action plan to achieve them. I'm using the example of getting more direct bookings to show you how you could build up a set of SMART achievable goals for your business.

In this episode of the podcast I also mention my marmalade recipe - you can find it here