Setting goals is a crucial aspect of every small business that should not be overlooked. In planning for short-term goals such as daily activities, or long-term goals such as annual growth in sales or brand awareness, a small business can strategies on how to achieve their targets. To learn more about how to set business goals, you can read this Smart Goal Setting Guide we wrote for SMEs.

Goals, however, remain nothing but dreams if they are not put into action. Fortunately, we live in the age of technology. Where every business activity has been made manageable through online tools and software applications. There are many free project management applications available for tracking all your business goals, but at the top of my list is Trello.

Trello is a project management app designed to help users plan and organize their projects into boards. The boards allow you to easily visualise and track your activities. If you are a business owner and you do not have a Trello account yet, this would be a great time to start. CLICK HERE

Here are all the ways on how to use Trello to track goals: 

Boards and Cards

Trello allows you to create separate boards for all the different projects you intend to undertake. In the boards, you can outline: -the workflow, processes, or strategies you have put in place to achieve your goals. Additionally, Trello allows you to break down these processes into actionable tasks by adding Cards containing all the various activities you need to undertake.

Trello boards are a great way to visualise all your goals and tasks at a glance. Therefore, ensuring that everything is on track and that no important detail is left out.

Checklists

If you thought Trello could not get any more detailed, you’re wrong. Trello allows you to further create checklists for every task on the board. Checklists are a great way to increase productivity, and Trello will enable you to check off every item on your list. If the items on your checklists grow bigger and therefore require more planning, Trello allows you to convert them into cards with a couple of clicks.

Labels

Another great way to track your goals with Trello is by adding labels to your cards. Labels are basically colour codes that you can allocate to cards according to the different categories or priorities. For instance, you can give red labels to all your urgent priority tasks, allowing you to identify them on the board quickly. With Trello, you are also able to filter out your cards according to their labels for easy tracking and monitoring. 

Due Dates

Tasks only become actionable with added dates and deadlines. Trello allows you to add due dates on every card, along with reminders before the deadline to ensure you are always ahead of the game. This feature is particularly useful for small businesses to prevent time overruns, which may affect the schedules for any subsequent activities. The reminder feature on Trello allows you to plan in advance. Hence enabling you to remedy any delays before they occur – which is critical in achieving your goals promptly.

Card Covers

The Trello card covers allow you to create a vision board out of your goals and tasks. Card covers are visual images that you add to your cards and are visible from the board. Card Covers make boards visually appealing and inspiring, but also highly functional. By adding images that are related to the card, you can promptly identify the card on the board without having to read through each card. With this, you can easily keep track of all the activities on your board. Hence, making a mental note of what is still pending. Trello allows you to upload card covers from your computer, or select from a wide variety of images from Unsplash.

Attachments

You can also track your goals on Trello by adding all the relevant attachments to the cards. With Trello, you can attach links,images, or files that are relevant to the completion of the task. With this, you can quickly build up on tasks, enabling you to instantly access all the resources you need to complete them when they are due.

Collaboration

One of the most incredible key features in Trello is the ability to collaborate with others on cards and boards. Trello allows you to achieve your team goals by adding your friends, employees, and colleagues to the respective tasks, for accountability and assigning of roles.

Adding your Virtual Business Manager as part of your team is a brilliant way to assign them specific tasks. This will help you achieve your goals, and keep track of how their activities contribute to your business, as a member of your team.

Power-Ups

Power-Ups are third party apps that can be integrated to your Trello board to maximise efficiency. You can enable these apps from the board’s menu on the right. 

Trello has various Power-Ups for analytics, reporting, automation, project management, communication, and collaboration, among others, that may come in handy in tracking and achieving your goals. 

• The Calendar Power-Up, for instance, is particularly useful, since it allows you to visualise cards on a calendar as per their due dates. You can also drag cards on the calendar to automatically change the due dates. Plus import calendar feeds into third-party calendar apps such as your Google Calendar.
•  The Card Aging Power-Up is another excellent app that causes your cards to fade if there has been inactivity for a while. Which allows you to keep track of all your priority tasks, ensuring they get all the necessary attention.

However, the free version only allows you one power-up so choose wisely

Conclusion

Trello allows you to plan all your goals in detail, breaking them down into achievable tasks and enabling accountability and collaboration with other members of your team. Tracking goals with Trello has never been easier!

Download the Trello phone app to track your activities on the go.