Founder Friday is a weekly guest post written by a founder who is based in or hails from the Silicon Prairie. Each month, a topic relevant to startups is presented and founders share lessons learned or best practices utilized on that topic. April’s topic is goal setting.

About the author: Jayme Thomason is the co-founder of DivvyHQ.

I was asked to write about goal setting, but I’d rather talk about stretching. Stretching, at first, can be uncomfortable. Kinda hurts even. When you stretch more often, it gets easier. Enjoyable even. No, I’m not talking about your hamstrings. I’m talking about stretch goals. What’s a stretch goal? In your business, think of the outcome you want the most, but that makes you uncomfortable to even say aloud, so you keep it to yourself? That’s your stretch goal.

Every startup entrepreneur sits down with their co-founders and plans. We’re getting pretty good at it ourselves. We set proper goals like “increase sales $2,000 this month,” and “launch x, x and x features.” These are fine goals. Goals like this are positive for your business. But I challenge you to set some goals that put butterflies in your stomach. We’re all in this business to swing for the fences, right? We don’t set out as entrepreneurs to “just be average,” or “make a little bit of money.” We’re naturally dreamers, big thinkers, and our startups are the result of what’s in our DNA – to go big or go home.

My founders and I had the privilege of sitting down with a super smart business coach named, Kelly Tyler. She calls these types of goals “OohOohOoh goals” (Outrageously Outlandishly Optimistic). She helped us see that not only is it downright therapeutic to say these goals aloud, but once you say it, it’s like you’re giving yourself permission to achieve it!

What are DivvyHQ’s stretch goals?

Completely change the way marketers think about, plan, and execute their content planning and production process. Period. For decades, marketers have been using spreadsheets to manage content production, editorial teams, deadlines, buyer types, etc. We say, that’s an old, low-tech way to manage a complicated, high-tech problem. Divvy is here to make this a simpler, easier, and dare we say, enjoyable process! (Gasp)

Another one of our stretch goals is to create a work culture where people can’t WAIT to start work on Monday. Where people love what they do and are given the freedom to just “do” the work they are good at. No rules. No red tape. Just progress and results. I’m happy to report that we are getting this done, one new, loved employee at a time.

I had the extreme pleasure to hear Thad Langford, former President & CEO of Zave Networks (acquired by Google), speak at a recent KC Roundtable Breakfast. And he said it best, “Paint your vision for your company as big as you possibly can. It’s this vision that will attract employees, partners and eventually investors.” I love this. This is how visionary leaders think, act and then change their piece of the world. They get people excited about the stretch goal. They ask their employees to stretch with them. Then the employees start thinking big, and then you’ve got a vibrant, creative culture people are drawn to.

Oh, Thad very quickly followed his statement with, “and then execute like hell.” Brilliant.

Getting to your OohOohOoh Goal

You have a stretch goal, but maybe you just haven’t articulated it yet. Answering these questions could help:

• How does what you’re building change things? I mean really change things?
• What obstacles are YOU putting on yourself (and how can you remove them?)
• What conditions need to be in place in order to reach your stretch goal? (Answering this gives you your new business plan.)

Sometimes you can’t see that you’re making any progress. We have days/weeks where we wonder, are things changing? Are we any closer today to our goal than we were yesterday? What the heck are we doing here? I’ll steal one more concept from Thad that really applies to stretch goals. He says, “just keep chopping wood.” Which means, keep working, even though you don’t even see a crack in what you’re doing. Eventually, it’s going to split and you’ll have accomplished what you set out to do.

Here’s an important thing to remember to give your startup the best possible chance to achieve your stretch goals. Surround yourself with “why not?” people. Stop hanging out with (or at least talking business with) “Why?” people, and befriend people who say, “what the hell? Go for it!” These people will keep you going when you feel like you’re not making a dent in your wood pile.

What’s your stretch goal? What’s the thing you want most that you don’t even dare mutter aloud? That there’s your stretch goal. Say it loud and proud!

Credits: Photo of Jayme Thomason courtesy of Thomason.

About the author: Jayme Thomason is on a mission to take her simple approach to content marketing to the masses. Growing up on her family’s farm in rural Kansas taught her a lot about being able to appreciate life’s simplicities. Those ideals are now inherent in her career, first as a copywriter, then as a content strategist, now as the co-founder and CEO of DivvyHQ, the simple, spreadsheet-free editorial calendar application. DivvyHQ was created specifically for content managers who manage multiple projects, clients and teams and are longing to chuck their spreadsheet for a better editorial planning solution.

Thomason can be found on Twitter, @jaymethomason.

 Founder Friday is brought to you by the Heartland Technology Alliance

Thanks to our Founder Friday series sponsor, Heartland Technology Alliance, a nonprofit working as an advocate for innovation and competition in technology and communications across much of the Silicon Prairie and throughout the Upper Midwest.