When I say the word milestone (in relation to business), most people think of things like being in business so many years, reaching a new financial level or hiring a new employee. But milestones should be a regular part of your business, in the form of PROJECT milestones. Project milestones can save you hours a week, streamline your workflow and make managing your team a breeze! Before we get into all the awesome things project milestones bring to the table, let’s talk about what the hell a project milestone is anyway.
What is a project milestone?
A project milestone is a reference point that marks an important achievement in a project. They represent a clear sequence of events that ultimately lead to project completion. Milestones aren’t another “task”. In fact they typically don’t require time to complete but instead act as a signal for some type of review or action.
For example, if you’re a copywriter maybe you have 3 phases to your work. Brainstorming, outline and then content development. At the end of each of these phases you would have a milestone. So, in this instance your project would have at least 3 milestones.
If you are a coach, this may feel a little more confusing to you. The type of coaching you offer your clients may not feel so compartmentalized. BUT I assure you, milestones exist.
Let’s say you are a nutrition/wellness coach. Milestones for you may look more like this:
- Meet with client and discuss wellness goals.
- Develop plan and present to client.
- 30 day check in to see progress.
- 60 day check in and health evaluation.
And so on…
What you are looking for are PHASES in your workflow or coaching.
What makes a good milestone?
When you are first looking for your project milestones, you may not be sure as to what the milestones in your business are.
A good milestone consists of the following:
- Clear beginning and end. This is non-negotiable. It must be very clear where one milestone ends and the next begins. Whether it’s based on a date (like the 30 day check in in our wellness coach example) or based on a deliverable (like the outline in our copywriter example), it is very clear when you have reached a milestone.
- Contains a checklist of specific tasks or is measurable. Again, the point is to know what is happening during each milestone and where each begins and ends.
- Must be repeatable. You know you have developed really solid milestones when they become applicable to every similar project or client.
Now that you are starting to see what project milestones are and what they might look like for your business let’s talk about WHY they are so important.
Scheduling and Managing Workflow.
Project milestones are GREAT at helping you manage your workflow. Once you know what your milestones are you can build a timeline for each project or coaching client you have.
This can work in two ways.
- If you work with clients for a predetermined amount of time (90 days, 6 months, etc.) then milestones help you keep work at a steady pace for you and your client. Um, win/win.
- If you work with clients until a goal is accomplished (website built, sales funnel created, etc.) having clear milestones will help you balance your workload among other clients. Back to our copywriter example and the 3 phases – brainstorming, outline and content creation. It seems likely that brainstorming doesn’t take nearly as much time as content creation. If you are currently in the brainstorming phase for 10 clients it may be best to push back the start date of any new clients. Because in a couple of weeks you will owe 10 clients content!!
Delegating
Project milestones make delegating work much easier. Wouldn’t things run so much smoother if you can say to your VA, I need help creating 4 outlines for clients that are all due next Tuesday? AND your VA knows EXACTLY what that means and what you expect to be done? BOOM! No need to micromanage. No piecemeal work frustrating everyone. No missed deadlines because your VA didn’t know you need the outlines by next Tuesday. So. Much. Better.
If you need help getting started, begin by writing down every task you do for your clients. Put them in sequential order and start to look for tasks that “go” together and moments that need approval or outside action. Keep at it and you’ll start to see what the project milestones are for your business.