A sure-fire way to lose 20lbs and 2X your revenue overnight.

Lose twenty pounds and double revenue overnight, you say? Surely, there's no way. And guess what, you're right. You're right in the same way that Elvis Presley didn't become one of the world's greatest musicians overnight, and Einstein didn't become the world's most acclaimed theoretical physicist overnight. But there was a night when Elvis picked up his first guitar, and another when Einstein worked through his first equation. It was on that night that they each became an "overnight success".

**"It was on that night that they each became an "overnight success".**

So it turns out that losing twenty pounds and doubling your revenue overnight is totally achievable. Keep reading and we'll teach you how...

It all starts with setting goals. Goals that are achievable, trackable, and in alignment with specific long-term objectives. It's not surprising that 54% of people say their New Year's resolution is to lose weight, but more than half of people say they fail their resolution before January 31st. (Inc.com) When you define your goals without making them achievable, trackable, or specific, you mind as well be talking to the tooth fairy, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. In reality, you're really just making a wish. Here are a few other examples to illustrate the difference between wishes and goals:

Wish: I want to spend more time with my family.

Goal: I will eat dinner with my family every Thursday night for the next three months.

Wish: I want to spend more time working on my business instead of in my business.

Goal: I will spend five hours each week for the next six months to focus solely on executing my business plan.

Wish: I want my campground to make me more money.

Goal: I will increase the number of nights my sites are occupied by 150% and I will increase the amount spent per stay by 35%.

Wish: I want to move to Florida.

Goal: I will move to Florida by the end of next year.

At Team Outsider, a leading provider of professional campground management services, we are big believers in goal setting.

It's not just us who believes in the power of goal setting. According to Forbes, setting concrete goals, documenting them, and reviewing them periodically can increase your chances of success by up to 95%. Before setting a goal, we like to ask three questions:

Will achieving this goal move the needle?
Why do I care about achieving this goal?
What steps do I need to take to ensure that I achieve this goal within an appropriate time frame?

Goal Setting, In Action:

Last year, we set the goal of increasing revenue at one of our properties by 100%. Did we expect to do this in the first year? No, but we knew that to reach our goal in five years we would need to increase revenue in the first year by 15%. We had acquired a campground near Grand Teton and Yellowstone in Wyoming. Occupancy had been strong and the ability to increase sites was possible but required thoughtful planning since there was not an abundance of unused land. How did we go about reaching our 15% increase in the first year?

We opted to begin our expansion in the first year by adding glamping accommodations in the form of teepees. While teepees can range from rustic to chic, we chose to design ours closer to the latter. The season for teepee camping in Wyoming at 7,000 feet of elevation is quite short so we needed a very clear set of steps to accomplish our goal and to start generating revenue.

At times, the number of decisions that need to be made can feel endless and overwhelming. What can you do? Just go. Just start. Here are the steps that we followed. This free project planning template has a few important columns that help us achieve our goals.

First, write it down. Write your goal down. In ink. Large enough to see it.
Second, break it down. Divide your goal into large steps with a series of smaller tasks ("bites") and associated completion dates for each. Make sure your bites can be accomplished in 1-week increments.
Third, assign it. Determine who is responsible for the goal's completion. This is the person that owns the completion of that task. While this individual does not have to do all the work, they are responsible for ensuring that it happens.
Fourth, track it. Use a status metric to keep track of what is done and not done. You can add a few other categories if it helps to describe what is happening. Set a reminder on your calendar to review your progress. Once per week. Take no more than 30-minutes. Make any adjustments to your upcoming week's bites, as needed.
Now, say it again. Write it down. Break it down. Assign it. Track it.

And guess what? Our goal was achieved. Lucky us? Nope. Just good planning and execution.

Screenshot of template