Episode 304: Mastering Goal Setting with Hallie Bulkin, MA CCC-SLP, CMT®, CPFT™

Hi and welcome to episode 304 of the Untethered Podcast. Today we are going to talk about setting goals. Now, I know by the time you get this episode, we're already going to be several weeks into 2025. And that's okay, because as we're in this year, some of us may have skipped the goal setting side of things and you might be going, I feel like I'm floundering already three weeks into the year. Whereas some others may feel like, well, I set some goals, but I already kind of want to tweak them. Or maybe you set them already and you don't, you don't need any of this. Which is totally fine. Go back and listen to our other episodes. But here's the thing. It's another year. We need to kind of look forward. We need to set our sights on what's possible and whether you're a business owner, an employee, a contractor, whatever. Like, in the therapy world, setting goals is not just essential for children's IEPs and insurance companies, it's it's essential for our own personal and professional growth. And so while I wasn't going to dive into a whole like, goal setting episode, some of you were like, hallie, please. I was like, okay, let's dive in. Quick Disclaimer all information, content and material of this podcast are the opinions of the speakers and is for the informational purpose only and not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis and or medical treatment of a qualified healthcare provider. Welcome to the Untethered Podcast. I am your host, Holly Balkan. I'm a certified myofunctional therapist, therapist, feeding specialist, podcaster, business owner and mentor. This podcast is all about getting your questions answered and collaborating with colleagues to bring you the most up to date information in the orofacial myofunctional therapy, airway, tethered oral tissue and pediatric feeding therapy space. If you're new here, I challenge you to keep an open mind and join my mission to spread this message far and wide. If you've been around since June 2019, thanks for being a loyal listener. As we jump into today's episode, remember to listen with correct oral rest posture, tongue up, lips closed, teeth apart, breathe through your nose. Let's get started. Foreign. Let's dive into some different tips and I'm going to keep it super straightforward and simple. I want to talk about goal setting in general because I think it's crucial. Then I want to talk about goal setting for business owners and then I'm going to talk about goal Setting for employees or those of you who work for somebody else. Okay. And ultimately, there are, like, three steps to effective goal setting that I'll cover as well. Okay, so why is it crucial? Well, it gives us direction. It gives us focus. If you're ADHD like me, or if you're not, if you can feel very ADHD sometimes when you work in our profession. But imagine where you can be right down the road if you actually have a. Like a career trajectory mapped out, you have a clear path in mind. Okay? Goals are going to give your career trajectory a path. A clear path. You're going to create focus. Okay? Because like I said, the day in and the day out is just like a whirlwind of responsibilities for us. And we really need to, like, hone in on what it. Like, what we desire, what our goals are for ourselves so that we can actually achieve them. If we don't even think about them, they're not going to happen. Right? Sure, yes, you'll accomplish things in life, but a lot of times we think very small, and I want to encourage you to think bigger. Okay, now, why else is goal setting crucial? It motivates you. Okay, I know. Maybe you've heard of him, maybe you haven't. He's kind of a big name out there. But like Tony Rob, Tony Robbins, he says setting goals as a first step in turning the invisible into the visible. And I really like that quote of his, because goals can really, like, ignite something inside of you. It can kind of like, light your tush on fire. Put a little fire under your tush. I think that's what I was trying to say. Light your tush on fire. And it can really push you through challenging times. All right? So don't light your tush on fire, but let's light a fire under your tush. Go light that fire under your butt. All right? That was the goal here. Let's motivate ourselves. Needed some water. Okay. So the other thing, too, like, why it's so crucial is that it's. We create a measure and we create accountability. What do I mean by that? When we can measure our goals, we have, like, a solid way of, like, knowing, like, yes or no, we did it, we did or didn't do something, or we. We hit that 75% of that goal or whatever, we can attach a measurement or a number to it in some way. Then we have very clear benchmarks, and we know if we're meeting them or not. Okay? And it's just a very clear way to, like, measure success. Hold yourself accountable. And ultimately what we can measure is what we can improve and what we do measure is what improves. All right, so keep that in mind. All right, so let's talk about goal setting for business owners. First, I'm going to give you four, like four different tips and then I'll do the same thing for you if you work for somebody else. So my business owners visionary goals, as a CEO owner, whatever your role is, member manager, whatever, visionary goals, imagine what your practice could look like in five years. Like, what could that be? Write that down. I want you to dream really big here. No more small thinking. Okay? Here's a real life example. When I was creating my, my clinic, which I don't have a. I've never had a physical clinic space. I just wanted to replace my income working for somebody else. And I went from zero to six figures in eight months, which just totally blew my goal out of the water. I hired my first independent contractor because people wanted hours that I wasn't working and I could not meet the demand. And then from there it just grew. But I knew I had an overarching goal that like five years down the road I wanted to have a thriving private practice. And I knew what that looked like in my mind. So putting that on paper ultimately helped me create that in real life. And I got there way faster than I would have otherwise, which was just very, very crazy. You know, maybe you're a small clinic that expanded into multiple locations after setting a five year visionary goal. This happens all the time, right? So set the goal, write it down. Dream big. Okay? That's number one. Tip, number one. Tip number two, think of financial targets, like set specific revenue and profit goals. And I want you to break these down into quarterly targets so that it's more manageable. Okay? You can use spreadsheets or financial software and stuff to track progress. I'm not a financial guru, so going to leave that one to you, your cpa, your bookkeeper, whoever else you might be having, you know, help you when it comes to finances. Okay? Tip number three, team development. I want you to foster a supportive and growth minded, growth oriented work environment. I've talked about this in the past, maybe not on the podcast, but I feel like I have. I really think that, you know, the team, like the team as a whole, is a reflection of every individual that makes up that team. And so basically every individual is an equally important part of the team as a whole. Right? We can't just have this team and go, oh, we've got one like, you know, bad Apple on the team. No, that's going to bring the entire team down. That's going to, that, that Apple reflects on the entire team. So let's just keep that in mind because if you are as a business owner aiming to support and create a growth oriented type of work environment, then these bad apples that you're either going to see themselves out really quickly because they're not going to, they're not going to fit with your values, they're not going to fit with that supportive environment, they're not going to want the supportive environment or that growth oriented type of work environment because those are probably not the goals that they have for themselves. Right. And then when you're hiring, you want to keep in mind that this is the type of environment you offer, this is who's on the team. And you need to ask people why they'd be a good fit for that. Just a little, little extra tip on the side there. Okay. And then tip number four is innovation and expansion. I want you to set a goal to introduce new services or I don't know, it could be not like a technology, but maybe one of your new services is you offer online sessions or you offer different coaching packages or you offer and like, because you can do like coaching to people in other states, you can, you know, I'm not going to sit here and run through a whole different gamut of ideas, but be innovative and figure out ways that you can bring more money in without maybe taxing your time and your team's time a whole lot. All right. I will tell you that when we added virtual sessions and we had already been doing a little bit of it, but like in the pandemic, we added them in and you know, it definitely helped maintain some of our like 50% of our clientele which otherwise we would have lost because of offering virtual therapy sessions. Right. I know there was a practice that introduced virtual therapy sessions. They saw a 20% increase in client reach because they were able to reach people further away where they were, you know, they were licensed. But states are large, right? And maybe they're a multi state practice. So you know, we're able to, I have a therapist who's licensed in other states besides the one that she physically lives in. And she's able to then see those individuals virtually. Right. Which also helps grow the caseload, but does not require her to drive yet again to another client because we drive to our clientele, to our patients. And when you have a pretty full schedule already, maybe you want to add a couple more clients, but you don't want the extra driving. Right. That can definitely help. So just. Just a few little examples here. All right, my business owners, that's for you. Now we're going to move on to the employees, contractors, you know, those of you who are not the business owners, but who work for somebody else. And I want to focus on one, bringing your attention back to the conversation of work life balance that we discussed on the prior episode. Because what I mentioned to you is that setting boundaries is what's going to basically. Ultimately, I didn't say this, but it's going to basically create that balance between your professional responsibilities and your personal time. And it's not the balance. So it's not the actual balance that you're going after. It's the boundaries that you are setting. That's what you on, and that's what you need to maintain. Okay. All right, so that's. That's that one. Tip number two, skill enhancement. So I want you to find at least one or two areas where you want to focus your professional development for the year. You know, online courses are all the rage these days, obviously. I own an online continuing education company that focuses on, you know, pediatric feeding and myofunctional therapy. Tongue ties, airway. Like, that's why you're here, because you typically come to this podcast for that information, right? So whether it's courses, boot camps, workshops, certifications that are relevant to those topics, you know, we offer all of the above, but there's other ones out there, too. So figure out one or two areas of professional development where you want to go all in this year and. Excuse me, focus there. Okay. A lot of people just take, like, whatever course comes their way. That is not how you develop skills. You need to kind of deep dive into one skill area. So figure out what that is for the year and try to stay focused on that. Okay. Tip number three, career advancement. I see this conversation come up quite a bit online. You ultimately want to set goals for yourself around, like, promotions that you desire or certain roles that maybe you want to achieve. And so, you know, it was. There was this motivational quote that I heard by Sheryl Sandberg that was like, if you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat, just get on. You know, I never want to go to outer space personally, but I liked the quote. You ultimately want to set your own goals, because when you do this, you bring it to your consciousness that this is what you desire. And when you are open to those things kind of being presented to you, because You've already brought it to your level of consciousness. When these things do present themselves, you're paying attention, you hear them, you welcome them in, you're open to that opportunity. On the flip side, if you have not brought that goal to your consciousness or you're kind of pushing it down, one, it's either not going to present itself, or two, when it does, you're not going to realize that that's the opportunity that you actually desire. It's not going to present itself to you as the thing that's going to help you advance your career. So I really want you to kind of focus in on what goals you have for yourself in terms of promotions, certain roles you want to achieve. You know, maybe it's a certification you desire because that's going to mean you're an advanced level clinician and in your niche, you know, whatever that is, right. Focus on that, set those goals, and then tip number four for you, our networking goals. I don't really hear a ton of this discussion happening in our field at all, which is kind of interesting. I do. There are some colleagues who I adore who have SIP and social and they are just, they're brilliant. I've been to their. One of their events, when they did it in Boca Raton, it was so much fun, so fun that I forgot I had paid the parking meter and needed to pay it again. And I got a parking ticket for going because I was having so much fun that I stayed way past the end time of the event and it was a blast. But I digress. Network goals, networking goals. I want you to like, work on building and maintaining a network of professionals that are inside your niche, you know, definitely inside your niche. You can also build them outside of your niche, you know, but like within the field. But start thinking about those who are maybe outside of your field, because sometimes that could even be a team, a referral team, right? Somebody that. Or a team where you can go and you, you know, with patient permission, you can discuss a case because it's a different type of professional. An ent, for example, or an oral surgeon or. I'm thinking of people in my particular world, a dentist, an orthodontist, right? Some of these individual who. Or like a chiropractor or somebody does CST or an allergist or what, whatever the case may be, right. Whoever it might be, think of who you can build a network with and maintain that network of professionals within and outside of your immediate niche and even profession. And then you might even want to consider attending, like at Least two networking meetings. Start with two per year. Just kind of see how they are. Here's the thing, there's a lot of like networking groups for moms and things that, you know, could be good to get your word out there if you own the private practice or if you want to help network for the person that you work for. But you want to make sure that it's not necessarily like a mom networking group for moms in like network marketing companies because that's a very different type of, or like a group where like people are coming, kind of sharing their hobbies. Right. Which may make them some money, but it's not the same level of being as being around a networking group of people who work for, you know, larger companies, therapy companies, or if you're a business owner, you know, other CEOs, CEO, CFOs, certain types of lead administrative positions. You know, there's different, all kinds of different networking groups out there. So just be aware of like who's in the networking group and maybe go to at least a meeting here and there to see if you can find one that feels like a good fit for your goals because that can really, really help build you in your profession and also open you up to more opportunities as well. Okay, so that's my, those are my tips for employee contractor, you know, those of you who work for others, some, some goal setting tips for you, but in general for everybody you know, to really set the most effective goals. You want to set smart goals. And I was like, I'm not going to do an episode on smart goals. So I'm not going to do an episode on smart goals. But make them specific, make them measurable, make sure they're retrieval, make sure it's relevant and make sure they're time bound. Okay, you can Google smart goals and get all kinds of information. You want to do regular reviews, so you want to kind of do monthly check ins with yourself to assess your progress to your goals so that you can adjust if needed. Right. Nothing is ever set in stone. You may need to adjust. That is okay. Learn how to pivot. Pivoting is a beautiful thing. And then celebrate milestones. Like don't forget to celebrate achievements. No matter how teeny tiny, itty bitty small they feel it really, it boosts your own morale. It'll motivate you to continue pushing forward. Celebrations are important. Even if it's just you celebrating in whatever way you want to celebrate yourself without anybody else. Make sure that you celebrate the achievements that you, you know, like I said, every little goal, every little step that you achieve along the way. And the last thing I want to say is that setting goals is not just about achieving success, right? There's a major part of this journey that involves the growth that you experience along the way. And so as you set your goals for 2025 or you adjust them or whatever, wherever it is you are in this goal setting process, I want you to just stay open, allow your mind to imagine the possibilities, allow yourself to stay motivated, and remember that each step that you take, each little baby step, is a little mini goal towards your bigger goal, right? And it's ultimately, you know, if you're setting your goals in the way that we've talked about today, it's a step towards a brighter, more fulfilling career. And, and so, you know, here's to your success, right? One goal at a time, one foot in front of the other at a time. Um, I'd love to know what kind of goals you're setting this year. So you're always welcome to, you know, come tell me on Instagram or hit reply. If you're on our email list, you know, you can hit reply to those emails and tell us about the goals you're setting. We always love to hear from you all. So let us know what your goal is for this year, what you're working on, and if there's any way that we can help y' all do that and kind of, you know, create these goals and continue to master said goals along the way. All right, everybody, this is it. This is it for our little series of kind of kicking 2025 off from a mindset, you know, business, you know, it's not all business, but really from this standpoint of setting goals and I'm kind of making sure, you know, this is what's out from last year. Here's what's in for this year. Setting yourself up for success ultimately in 2025. So review these tips, go back to the past couple episodes. You might want to listen to them a couple times. They're short episodes, but they're packed with really good information. So make sure you listen, listen, listen, and let us know how we can help you along the way. Here's to a great 2025. All right, everyone, I'll talk with you next week. Thanks for listening to this podcast. If you found value in this episode and want to hear more of these Myotots, Airway and feeding related episodes, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcast and share this episode on your social media platforms. You can access free resources and all I offer@halliebulcan.com or pop over to allybulcan on Instagram to get all the latest updates.