Have you achieved your contractor goals this tax year?

In our experience working with contractors and freelancers, many use the start of the new tax year to set goals for themselves and their business. These goals vary, from a desire to make a certain amount of money, to a wish to meet a certain number of new clients, to a commitment to networking, or even something as simple as updating their website.

This means that the end of the tax year is the perfect time to assess your goals and reflect on what you’ve achieved.

Why is it important to reflect on achievements?

Reflecting on your goals and achievements is a key way of measuring success beyond simply asking ‘Am I earning enough money to live?’ It’s something that employed people tend to get regularly in the shape of annual reviews, but for the self-employed it’s something that you generally have to organise yourself.

How do you assess your goals and achievements?

If you set yourself goals for your business at the start of the tax year, set yourself some time aside in the coming weeks to cast your eye over your year and see what you’ve achieved.

Did you meet your financial goal? Did you forge some new client relationships? Did you productively attend more networking events? Did you update your website and has it generated more leads?

If you feel you’ve hit your targets, or even knocked them out of the park, then give yourself a pat on the back and take some time to look at how achieving those goals has helped your business to develop and how you’ve developed as a contractor. Perhaps set yourself some new targets to meet in the coming tax year.

If you’ve not achieved your goals, don’t despair! Ask yourself why and be constructively critical of yourself. Were your targets so high they were impossible for you to reach? Was there another reason such as illness or a slow patch that prevented you?

When you’ve ascertained the reason why, set yourself more readily achievable goals for the new tax year.

What if you didn’t set any goals last year?

That’s not a problem. If you’re happy working away without setting yourself goals, then that’s fine. Do whatever suits you best. But if you feel you’d benefit from having some set goals or targets, then why not set some for the 2018/2019 tax year?

To do this, just think about what’s important to you and your business and write up a few targets you’d like to hit. The important thing is to make sure they’re not too easy, but also not too difficult to achieve.

If one of your goals is to assess your business expenses, it could be worth looking into your contractor insurance. Call our friendly team at Kingsbridge to discuss your insurance needs and see how we can help you get a great, inclusive package. Contact us today on 01242 808740 or find out more on our Knowledge Hub.