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How to Set Goals for Your Microbakery That You Actually Hit | Episode 52

  • Jan 16, 2025
  • 6 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Listen on Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube


Most of us write goals for the bakery the same way. We sit down with a coffee and a fresh notebook, write something like "grow the business" and "be more organized," feel great about it for a week, and then never look at that page again.


By March the notebook is under a stack of order sheets and we are back to baking whatever people ask for.


This is the third part of my planning series, and it is the tactical one. We looked back, we cast the vision, and now we turn that vision into goals you can actually measure. It works in January and it works just as well at the start of any quarter, which is when I like to take the pulse of my own business.


Grab a pen, because I am going to walk you through the questions I use, and I will show you what a real answer looks like at each step.


Pick one priority, then two that support it

Looking at your vision, what is the single most important thing you want to achieve this year, and why does it matter to you?


That second half is the part people skip. Your reason is what keeps you mixing at nine at night in February. It might be staying home with your children, or bringing in a set amount of income, or paying off your student loans.


Then name two smaller priorities that feed the big one. If your main focus is growing revenue, the smaller priorities might be increasing your average order value and expanding your customer base.


One more question I love here: if everything went right this year, what is one thing you would want to feel proud of in December? Being proud that you used your time in a way that supported your family counts just as much as a revenue number.


Make each priority a SMART goal

SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time sensitive. It is the thing that takes a goal from vague to something you can put on a calendar.


"Grow my customer base" is not a goal. Here is the same idea as a SMART goal: gain 15 new customers by June by offering samples at local farmers markets.


Look at what that gives you. A number, a deadline, and the exact activity that gets you there. On any given Saturday you know whether you did the work or not.


Then set one stretch goal that pushes you outside your comfort zone but still feels possible with real focus. If 15 new customers is the goal, 30 is the stretch.


Name the very first step and when you will take it

For your biggest goal, what is the first step, and how soon can you take it?


The answer depends entirely on where you are:

  • If you have not started selling, your first step might be dialing in your bulk baking process so you can turn out 6, 8 or 10 loaves at a time in a predictable way. Without that, you cannot take a market order or open pre-orders.

  • If you are taking orders through texts and messages and nothing else, setting up a pre-order platform like Simply Bread or Hotplate is a good first step.

  • If you are already rolling and the goal is bigger, the first step might be larger equipment, hiring help, getting clear on which products carry the highest profit margin, or adding a higher priced item like a dozen cookies to lift your average order value.

Write the step down with a date next to it. A first step without a date is a wish.


Set checkpoints so you find out early

What weekly or monthly checkpoints can you set to track progress?


When I am growing revenue, I track it weekly. Pen, paper, notebook, very visual. A spreadsheet works just as well if that is your thing.


Break the target down until it is small enough to check on a Saturday morning. If the goal is $2,000 in gross sales in a month, that is roughly $500 a week, and now you know by the second week whether you are on pace or need to change something.


Decide what will make you follow through

What systems will help you actually do this? There are three that carry most of the weight.

  • A planning tool. A paper planner, a spreadsheet, or software like Asana. It matters far less which one than whether you open it.

  • Customer feedback. Send a short survey and find out what your customers want more of before you build your year around a guess.

  • An accountability partner. Another baker or a friend you trust to be honest with you and hold your feet to the fire when you need it.


Build momentum in the first 90 days

What small win can you focus on right away? Launching one new product, smoothing out your workflow, or shifting your pickup day so it fits better with the rest of your household.


Then think about habits. Pre-measure your dry ingredients the day before. Batch your social posts so a week of content goes out without you touching your phone. Protect the self care that keeps you able to show up at all.


And ask the question that frees up the most time: what is one thing you can automate, delegate or simplify?

  • Your teenager washes the dishes so you can do the work only you can do.

  • A mother's helper comes for a few hours a week so your hands can be in the dough without a toddler on your hip.

  • Simply Bread sends the reminder texts when your menu opens and when pickup is coming, instead of you typing them.


Plan around the obstacles you can already see

What is coming this year that you already know about? A wedding, a graduation, a big family gathering, a move, someone staying with you, a health change.


Look at the calendar now and decide which weeks you will bake lighter or not at all. Deciding that in January feels like planning. Deciding it the Tuesday before feels like failing, and it is the same decision.


Celebrate the small wins on purpose

Celebrating the small progress matters as much as celebrating the big progress, and it is the easiest thing to skip right past. Without the small progress there is no big progress.


Decide now what the celebrations are. Coffee out, a manicure, a massage, or if you are an introvert like me, a night in a hotel by yourself for a big one. I am buying myself a new cookbook in a couple of months for a small win, and I am very excited about it!


If you are a year or three in, review these monthly

For those of you with real revenue coming in, the goals are only half the work. The review is the other half.


Put thirty minutes on the calendar at the start of each month and ask three things: what do the numbers say, what needs to change this month, and is this goal still worth chasing?


That last one matters. A goal that made sense in January can stop serving you by May, when your wholesale account grows or your family situation changes. Adjusting a goal on purpose is good management. Letting it drift and feeling guilty about it for six months helps nobody.


Also decide what success feels like, not just what it measures. Financially, yes, and also emotionally and personally.


Final thoughts

Picture yourself at the end of this year with these goals accomplished. How do you feel, and what is different about your life and your business?


It almost certainly will not look exactly the way you are imagining it now. That is fine. Let yourself feel it anyway, because that feeling is what gets the work done on the weeks when nothing is fun.


The question I keep coming back to is simply what is possible. More time with your people, a full time income from your kitchen, help in the bakery, a brick and mortar someday. Your bakery is meant to serve the life you want, so let your goals point at that.


Cheering you on,


Caroline


Keep going

If you want the rest of the planning series and one more piece on getting in front of the right customers, start here.


Links to things you might like!


 
 
 

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