Life, business, family, education, health, fitness, happiness, travel, leisure. It’s all a journey. Yes, there are points in time but once in a while it is also important to step back and look at how far you have traveled.
I started writing these newsletters in April of 2006. I tried to come up with twelve topics to sustain myself for the first year. I quickly came up with ten and decided that was close enough. I couldn’t have imagined nearly 240 newsletters 20 years ago. When I took my son to the local ski slope at four years of age to try skiing, I didn’t envision annual trips out west for spring break nor did I foresee the day when he would become the much better skier. My fractional CFO practice looks different than it did 20 years ago. I have become more efficient, refined my practice, shifted focus, and hopefully add more value to my clients than I did when I first began.
While it’s important to look ahead and focus on the next goal, it’s also important to look back and see how far you have traveled. While I am a big believer in setting goals, those tend to be shorter term. I think of goals as one-year budgets or perhaps five-year plans. And with that backdrop it can be exciting to look back and see the progress you have made over a decade or more.
It’s also important to look back and see where you’ve been stagnant. While I hate to admit it, I have a few of those areas as well. We all do. Those are worth revisiting. Is the status quo reasonable? Or is it important to move that area forward? And what concrete actions can you put in place to make sure you don’t stay stuck in the same place?
Note, I said actions. It’s important not to confuse goals with the necessary action steps to achieve the goal. I was in a meeting recently when I heard people talking about their upcoming goals. Lose x pounds and add x new clients are just two examples. Nothing wrong with either of those goals. But they won’t happen by themselves. Each is a result of specific actions.
Losing x pounds needs to be backed up by a specific exercise regimen that you can track and eating plan that you can monitor with a food tracking app. Adding those clients needs to be supported by a specific outreach plan to target potential customers, follow up meetings, funnel tracking and success rate assumptions that can be measured and adjusted as you gain experience and learn what works and what doesn’t.
Setting goals is part of the journey but it is usually only a first step. What is more important are the follow-up actions to move you down the path. Think about the progress you have made on any front. List the actions it took to get you from where you started to where you are today. Use this as both a guide and inspiration for your journey from this day forward.
Happy New Year and let’s continue the journey together.
If your business could benefit from fractional CFO services, I would welcome the chance to speak with you. Please give me a call at (513) 225-8657 or send an email to [email protected]
The archive of these monthly newsletters is posted at the Resources section of homza.com
your cash is flowing. know where.®
Ken Homza
Copyright @ 2025 Kenneth M. Homza