# Chapter 12 — Goal Setting ## The chapter in one line Income is not a hope — it's math. When you know your numbers, you can reverse- engineer any income target into a weekly to-do list. --- ## Let me tell you the truth Ask most contractors what their goal is and you get the same answer: "Make more money." "Have a good year." "Stay busy." That's not a goal. That's a wish. A wish has no number, no plan, and no way to know if you're winning or losing. You can't hit a target you never defined. Here's the good news, and it's the whole point of this chapter: by now you have the numbers to make income an *equation* instead of a hope. You learned job costing in Chapter 6. You learned estimating, margins, and average ticket in Chapter 11. Put those together and you can **reverse-engineer** any income you want into exactly how many leads, estimates, and jobs it takes to get there. That's the difference between a worker who hopes for a good year and an owner who *builds* one on purpose. ## The numbers you need to know You can't do the math without your numbers. Know these four cold: 1. **Average ticket** — the average dollar value of one job. (Job costing and your estimates give you this.) 2. **Profit margin** — the percentage of each job you actually keep after all costs and overhead (Chapter 11). 3. **Close rate** — out of every 10 estimates you give, how many turn into jobs? 4. **Lead-to-estimate rate** — out of your leads, how many become real estimate opportunities (after qualifying — Chapter 9)? If you don't know these yet, start tracking them this week. Even rough numbers beat no numbers. ## Reverse-engineering income — the core skill Here's the move. Start with the income you want and work *backwards* to the daily and weekly activity that produces it. **Step 1 — Start with the target.** Pick a real annual number — let's say you want the business to do a certain revenue, or you want a certain take-home profit. **Step 2 — Convert profit to revenue.** If you want a take-home number, use your margin. Want $100,000 in profit at a 20% net margin? You need $500,000 in revenue ($100,000 ÷ 0.20). **Step 3 — Revenue to number of jobs.** Divide revenue by your average ticket. $500,000 in revenue ÷ a $10,000 average ticket = **50 jobs** for the year. **Step 4 — Jobs to estimates.** Use your close rate. Close 1 of every 3 estimates? 50 jobs needs **150 estimates** for the year. **Step 5 — Break it down to the week.** 150 estimates ÷ 50 working weeks = **3 estimates per week.** 50 jobs ÷ 50 weeks = **1 job booked per week.** Look at what just happened. "I want to make six figures" — a vague wish — became: *"I need to give 3 solid estimates and book 1 job every week."* That's not a wish anymore. That's a checklist. That's something you can actually go do, and actually measure. (Run *your* real numbers — average ticket, margin, and close rate are different for every contractor and niche. The downloadable calculator does the math for you.) ## Set goals at every level A yearly number alone is too far away to drive daily action. Break it down: - **Yearly** — the big target. Your direction. - **Quarterly** — close enough to plan around, far enough to be meaningful. - **Monthly** — your main scorecard. Did you hit your number this month? - **Weekly** — where the work actually happens. Your weekly activity targets: leads worked, estimates given, jobs booked, revenue. The weekly number is the one that matters most day to day. Hit your weekly activity targets consistently and the monthly, quarterly, and yearly numbers take care of themselves. ## Track activity, not just results Here's a subtle but important point. Revenue is a *result* — it's a lagging number, it shows up after the fact. **Activity** is what you control *right now.* You can't directly control "make $500,000." You *can* directly control "give 3 estimates this week" and "respond to every lead in 5 minutes" (Chapter 9). Track the activity. The activity produces the results. Contractors who track only revenue are watching the scoreboard; contractors who track activity are actually playing the game. ## Review and adjust Goals aren't "set and forget." Build a rhythm: - **Weekly** — did I hit my activity targets? What got in the way? - **Monthly** — did I hit my revenue/profit number? What needs to change? - **Quarterly** — am I on pace for the year? Adjust the plan. If you're behind, the math tells you exactly what lever to pull — more leads, a better close rate, a higher average ticket, or better margins. The numbers don't just measure you; they tell you what to fix. This is also where the community accountability system pays off — putting your weekly numbers and your next goal *out loud* every week is what keeps them from sliding. ## Why this matters Goal setting turns the business from something that happens *to* you into something you *build.* It removes the guesswork. It tells you, every single week, whether you're winning — and exactly what to do if you're not. It connects the big dream from your Chapter 1 why all the way down to what you do on Monday. ## Common mistakes - **Vague goals** — "make more money" with no number. - **Only a yearly goal** — too far away to drive this week's action. - **Tracking revenue but not margin** — chasing big top-line numbers that don't pay. - **No activity targets** — watching the scoreboard, not playing the game. - **Never reviewing** — setting goals in January and never looking again. - **Not knowing your numbers** — you can't reverse-engineer math you don't have. ## A real example Two contractors want a six-figure year. One keeps it as a wish — no math, no weekly targets. He's "trying hard," but he can't tell you if he's on pace, and by fall he's behind with no idea why. The other ran the math: he knows he needs 3 estimates and 1 booked job a week, and he tracks it every Monday. When a slow stretch hits, he sees it immediately in the numbers and pushes leads harder *that week.* Same goal. One hoped for it. The other engineered it. ## Your action step Before Chapter 13: 1. Write down your **average ticket, margin, close rate, and lead-to-estimate rate** (rough is fine — refine over time). 2. Pick a real **annual income/revenue target.** 3. **Reverse-engineer it** down to weekly estimate and job-booking targets. 4. Set **yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly** goals. 5. Start a **weekly review** — track activity, not just revenue. Use the **Goal-Setting Calculator + Weekly Goal Tracker** in this chapter's downloads. ## Where this connects You now know exactly what you need to do each week to hit your number. But hitting it consistently depends on customers choosing *you* and trusting you enough to pay your price. In Chapter 13, we build the professional image that supports it. > **Remember:** Income is math, not luck. Know your numbers, reverse-engineer the > target, and track the weekly activity that gets you there.