While growing up, I was always involved in sports. At each level, the planning and goal setting became better and more focused — even though often it was more difficult. As a result, our team had more wins and I met personal goals with greater regularity. That was fun. You planned, practiced, played, kept score, and either won or lost. The following Monday, you celebrated the good and corrected any mistakes.

Without a game plan and specific goals it's impossible to see where you've been or where you're heading. Starting a new year is an ideal time to get your business plan in order. If you don’t have one – you need one. If your plan hasn’t been updated in the last several months, it’s time to sit down and spend some quality time thinking about your strategies and how they will move you ahead this year.

Below I've listed eight goal-setting strategies that ultimately should be reflected in your business plan. Your plan doesn’t have to be elaborate and long. The most important aspect is that it has to be specific and the following points should be built in.

Be Specific: Set a precise goal, and make sure you can measure it. Success is in the details.

Measure: If you can't measure it, it's not a goal. Measure with dates, times, or amounts. When you do this, you will know how and why you have succeeded, and this will give you the direction and motivation to keep moving the ball forward.

Be Realistic: It's important to set goals that you can achieve. Appreciate the obstacles you must overcome and skills you'll need to achieve a particular level of performance.

Make Them Relevant: Don't write goals for your banker, lawyer, or advisers. These are for you and your business. They are in place to help you succeed.

Prioritize: Some goals are simply more important than others, and some need to be realized before you can move forward with others. Work on them in the right order.

Write Down Goals: This helps you to be specific, helps you to measure, and helps you to prioritize your goals.

Adapt: The best teams make changes at half time; they adapt. If things aren't working, it's OK to change the approach. 

Acknowledge Success: Hey, it's OK to celebrate the singles and the home runs. That's what this whole process is about.

Plans and goals aren't just for the beginning of the year. They are year-round documents that will help you manage your company, employees, and yourself.

One of our company goals is to renew subscriptions by 25% before the end of January. If you like this magazine and would like to continue to receive it, you can help me reach one of my goals!

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Thanks for reading this issue of HVACR Business.

HVACR Business Welcomes A New Editor In Chief

We’re starting our New Year off with a new editor Tom Peric. Tom has a great deal of experience in our industry and the person I’ve selected to help HVACR Business hit our editorial goals. Here’s a little bit about Tom. He attended the American University on several academic scholarships, earning degrees in Communications and History.

After graduating, Tom worked as a journalist in Washington, D. C., until moving to Cleveland, where he worked as an award-winning reporter and editor on several daily newspapers and magazines. These included The Akron Beacon Journal and as business editor for the Morning Journal.

Tom was the founding editor of HVACR Distribution Business magazine from 1998 to 2014. He then became editor of Heating, Air Conditioning Distributors International HARDI’s official publication, Distribution Center. 

Tom speaks Croatian and lives in Haddonfield, NJ, with his wife, Cheryl Federline. Tom’s passion and hobby is Jiu-Jitsu, winning a world championship in 2017. He is also the author of several books on martial arts, including Martial Arts: The Lessons. Please feel free to reach out and welcome Tom at tperic@hvacrbusiness.com