As we head through a new year and new decade, what better time for contractors to set goals and aim to make 2020 their most successful year of contracting yet? After all, those that set goals are 10x more likely to succeed. Goals guide focus and help to sustain the momentum to accomplish your ambitions.
However, only a mere 8% of goal setters go on to achieve them. Fortunately, this handy guide from Umbrella Supermarket will equip you with everything you need to know about setting and achieving a realistic set of contractor goals in 2020.
Whatever a contractor’s goals, whether it’s acquiring a new skill or improving your finances, setting goals that are achievable requires contractors to get smart. This means creating goals that are:
Within a business context, goals are most likely to fail when they don’t inspire achievement. When setting goals, it’s important to ensure they are challenging yet realistic, striking the right balance to encourage success. Goals that are too easy don’t spur on achievement, yet impossible to reach goals are demoralising and discouraging.
For example, a goal to ‘increase traffic to my contractor website by 50% in 1 month’ is highly unlikely and sets you up for failure. On the other hand, the goal to ‘increase traffic to my contractor website by 5% in 1 month’ is far more realistic and motivates real success.
Although this might sound like an obvious course of action, those that write down their goals are 42% more likely to achieve them, yet less than 20% of people admit to doing so.
Whether contractors jot down their goals in their diaries, on the notes app on their smartphones or on their laptop, having goals written down will boost motivation, sharpen focus and helps you track your progress. By serving as a reminder of what you are trying to achieve, a set of written down goals will help keep you in check.
Breaking goals down into manageable actions improves chances of success by 90%. Setting out specific actions you will need to take in order to achieve a goal will help ensure you don’t miss any important steps. Think of this process as breaking a goal into bite-sized chunks, breaking bigger objectives into smaller steps. This will help your goal seem less daunting and more attainable.
So, if a contractor’s goal is to win a high-value contract with x client by April, break down this goal into easy to digest chunks:
Once you have created a realistic set of goals and established an action plan of how you will achieve these, the next step it to set a timeframe outlining when you will achieve each sub-task by, as well as an overall completion date.
Whether your goal will take days, weeks, months or years to achieve, it’s important to set a schedule in order to stay on task. Whether you write these key dates down in your planner, set up a spreadsheet, input them into your phone’s calendar or use the likes of Google calendar, it’s important to be able to visualise your deadlines to make it easier to work towards them.
Be realistic and set a schedule that works for you. For example, if you know you have a 2 week holiday booked in April, don’t plan to start an online course at this time.
An important part of the process is to regularly check-in on your goals to determine whether they are still relevant and important to you. After all, the world of contracting moves quickly, and some goals can simply lose their importance or relevance to your career.
Depending on the longevity of your goal, carry out regular assessments to establish whether it is still valuable to you. This will help keep you motivated and determined to achieve the goals that are important.
Whatever your ambitions for 2020, making use of the services of an umbrella company will help keep things simple, giving contractors more time to work on achieving their all-important goals. At Umbrella Supermarket, our easy to use comparison tool finds contractors the very best deals for them. Enter your details, compare quotes and enjoy a successful year of smashing your contractor goals in 2020.
Any contractor considering switching to an umbrella company will want to know how to find the best provider to work with.
Although you could spend your precious time and energy searching the web for the best umbrella company, there is an easier way – using an umbrella calculator.
In this guide, Umbrella Supermarket explains why every contractor should use an umbrella calculator in 2021.
If you are considering contracting you will need to decide on PAYE or umbrella.
It can be a difficult decision to make and contractors will inevitably be questioning which option will be the best for them.
To help every contractor get on the right track for them, in this guide Umbrella Supermarket looks at PAYE vs umbrella, outlining the key differences and how this will impact you.
There are many reasons that contractors across the UK opt to work under an umbrella company.
Umbrella companies offer an easy way to contract and remove the need for the contractors to worry about the burdens of admin, finances, tax and IR35, all things that limited company contractors have to deal with.
For this reason, many contractors will be weighing up their options and questioning whether it is worth using an umbrella company in 2021. To help make the decision that little bit easier, Umbrella Supermarket has put together this guide on the pros and cons of using an umbrella company.
Any contractor that is considering operating through an umbrella company in 2021 will need to understand Umbrella Company fees - from why an umbrella company charges fees, how they are paid to how much the contractor will pay.
In this guide, Umbrella Supermarket answers those all-important questions to help every contractor know exactly where they stand when it comes to umbrella company fees.
If you’ve made the decision to contract through an umbrella company in 2021, you will next need to find an umbrella company that’s right for you.
After all, there are lots of umbrella companies out there, so how do you know which one to choose?
To help you find the best umbrella company for you, in this guide Umbrella Supermarket outlines what makes a good umbrella company, so you can rest assured you’re making the right move.
One of the many advantages to operating through an umbrella company for contractors is that they become an employee of their chosen provider.
In turn, this means that the contractor will be automatically enrolled onto the umbrella company’s workplace pension scheme.
To help contractors find out more about umbrella company pensions Umbrella Supermarket has put together this handy guide.
If you are considering contracting through an umbrella company you will naturally have questions and queries over how they work.
After all, making the move to umbrella can be a big step for contractors. To help, in this guide Umbrella Supermarket explains how to get started with an umbrella company and share our top tips for using one in 2021.
PAYE or umbrella is a question asked by every contractor. Which one you opt for will have a big impact on your contracting career and lifestyle. So, it's important to make the right decision for you.
To help makes things a little bit easier, Umbrella Supermarket has put together this guide on PAYE or umbrella, outlining the key differences between each, to help you make the best and most informed decision for you.
One of the many benefits to working through an umbrella company is that you will receive holiday pay as well as a range of other statutory benefits including sick pay, maternity and paternity pay.
To find out more about umbrella company holiday pay, and how to calculate how much you will be entitled to, Umbrella Supermarket has put together this handy guide.
Contractors must make several decisions throughout their contracting careers. One big decision contractors have to make is how they will operate.
One way that contractors can work is through an umbrella company.
Umbrella companies have become an increasingly popular way to contract in the past few years, offering many benefits to the contractor. But, how do you know whether this option is right for you?
To help every contractor make the right decision for them, in this guide, Umbrella Supermarket explains when not to use an umbrella company.
There are tons of benefits to using an umbrella company, which is why they have become such a popular option for contractors in recent years.
After all, an umbrella company takes away the stress and hassle of operating through a limited company whilst offering contractors a range of advantages, such as statutory rights, paying them a salary, deducting correct tax levels and National Insurance, and taking care of tasks like expense processing and invoicing.
However, as more and more contractors opt to use the services of an umbrella company, more providers have started to claim that they are HMRC approved.
To bust the myths around HMRC approved umbrella companies and get straight to the facts, in today's guide Umbrella Supermarket look at whether HMRC approved umbrella companies really exist, so you know exactly where you stand.
If you're considering making the leap to contracting, you will understandably want to know how much you will have to pay in umbrella company costs. After all, this amount comes directly out of the contractor’s pocket, so it’s important to be clued up on how much you should expect to pay.
To help contractors, in this guide Umbrella Supermarket answer the all-important question of how umbrella companies cost in 2021.
