In recent years, I’ve come to realize something that has completely changed the way I view work, progress, and success – and I’ll concisely explain why you may want to prioritize it sooner rather than later.
Being in the agency business, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have access to data that most businesses simply can’t have, as most companies will not reach the revenue our clients cumulatively generate.
And when I say data, I’m not just talking about numbers on the screen, but also behavioral patterns and “the invisible things” that keep entrepreneurs stuck at various levels of scale.
While I have much to say on this topic (and will continue sharing my insight in Vavoza Insider Plus), I’ll keep my message concise and to the point.
One of the most consequential factors that allows entrepreneurs to break through their current glass ceiling at all levels is whether they set focused, short-term business objectives and follow through to completion.
What do I mean?
Needless to say, there’s a difference between planning to achieve a goal and making it happen.
There’s a big difference between “starting” to work on something and following the plan once the excitement wears off.
Are You On The Right Track To Scale Your Business?
Ask yourself the following three questions:
- Am I currently following a clear plan to achieve a short-term goal by the end of today?
- Am I doing everything in my power to complete the necessary tasks as quickly as possible?
- Will I be much closer to reaching my desired outcome within the next 12 work hours?
If you answered YES to all three questions, then you’re probably on the right track – but I encourage you to be brutally honest with yourself.
The truth is, if you set an objective with clearly defined key performance indicators (such as completing a list of specific tasks), you will make significant progress every single day – because all you have to do is follow the plan until you reach the result.
Otherwise, you don’t have an objective – you have an idea.
How Short-Term Business Objectives Drive Scaling
Below are two unique scenarios to illustrate the difference between someone who sets clear objectives and someone who doesn’t:
- (a) John decided to create a course on how to launch an e-commerce business, so he made a post about it on Facebook and emailed his list, announcing that he’s planning to create a course.
Then, John proceeded to redesign his website, look into day trading, and meet up with his entrepreneurial buddies to “network,” and then went home and watched YouTube videos until bedtime. The next day, John started building an AI agent. - (b) Mary decided to create an e-commerce course too, so she started drafting the curriculum, putting together the presentation, and applying for the affiliate programs of the tools that she will recommend in the course.
The next day, Mary finalized her curriculum and started recording the modules. She completed the course, edited it, and published it. Then she started creating promotional content for her course.
Which one of them set a clear objective versus had an exciting idea?
The story doesn’t end there…
You see, while John romanticized the idea of creating a course, Mary immediately executed her plan – because she had a clear, short-term objective.
Once Mary set her objective, that’s all that was on her mind, and she took all the necessary steps to make it happen as quickly as possible.
After producing her course, Mary set another short-term objective: to create content and start promoting her course.
As she started advertising, she realized she needed more offers to optimize her return on ad spend, so she created a higher-ticket coaching program and offered it to her course buyers.
Eventually, Mary hit a glass ceiling; however, given her discipline and execution skills, she set another objective: to hire a team member to manage her community so that she could focus more on creating content and increasing her organic reach.
(In other words, Mary started thinking strategically and started setting multi-dimensional objectives while executing them one at a time.)
And it continued: Mary decided to start offering done-for-you services to her community, so she immediately drafted step-by-step guidelines for her soon-to-be team to follow, made a job listing, and started hiring.
Ultimately, Mary’s discipline and execution skills transferred to her team through her guidelines and principles, enabling her to continue scaling her business and breaking through the glass ceiling at every stage.
Mary was able to do so by setting clear, short-term objectives and following through on them. Those short-term objectives evolved into long-term goals, and one task at a time, she crafted her vision and made it a reality.
Meanwhile, what’s going on with our buddy John?
Johnny boy finally drafted the curriculum for his course… but then he saw a video about how he can make a lot of money by running an AI agency, and he watched more videos on it.
What’s the difference between Mary and John?
It’s simple:
- John did not set an objective; he merely romanticized the idea of creating a course, but the moment the initial excitement wore off (or when he realized there was more to it than initially expected), he moved on to the next exciting idea.
- Mary set a clear, short-term objective, followed the plan, achieved her goal, and continued following the same pattern.
Is Mary more disciplined than John? Who knows. Mary didn’t talk about whether she was disciplined or not; she executed.
Mary wasn’t thinking about building an agency; her goal was to create a course, and one thing led to another, resulting in her building a successful company.
Your Next Steps To Grow Your Business In 2026
Here’s my message for you today:
Aspiring entrepreneurs who don’t set clear, short-term objectives and follow through on them tend not to launch or stick to anything long enough to break through.
Similarly, established entrepreneurs who fail to set clear, short-term objectives and follow through on them tend not to scale beyond the natural glass ceiling of their business model.
According to recent data from ChartMogul, only about 1 in 10 companies reaches $10 million in annual revenue. Of course, there are various factors, but the lack of consistent execution is surely a big one – at least from my experience working with entrepreneurs at our agency.
While everyone likes to think of themselves as a visionary, a long-term vision is built through relentless short-term execution, which is a byproduct of clear objectives.
You must know what you want to achieve to get closer to your goal – not in a year or a month, but TODAY.
If you’re not following a plan today, then you don’t have an objective. And if you don’t have an objective, you don’t scale. It’s that simple.
Look, I’m a visionary myself. I have an absolutely enormous long-term vision, but I was fortunate enough to realize that having a vision is useless without doing the small, tedious, and deliberate work every single day.
And only when I realized this did I start building the necessary infrastructure in our company, creating systems to maximize efficiency and productivity, and start breaking through our own glass ceiling – because the objectives I set naturally called for it.
Because focused, short-term objectives essentially “make us” get stuff done sooner and more consistently.
Every single one of us reading this article eventually hits a glass ceiling at various stages of our businesses, and we all must do what’s necessary to break through… every. single. day.
Once again, visions are built through relentless execution.
Set an objective for TODAY, and achieve it. And then set another one for tomorrow, and achieve it. And one step at a time, build your company – regardless of your current level.
If you would like to receive ongoing marketing insights and scaling tips, consider subscribing to Vavoza Insider Plus – it costs less than one nice cocktail a month and helps you make more money as an entrepreneur. 🥂
Happy scaling!
– Vlad
P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please share it with your fellow entrepreneurs and marketers today – let’s all win and grow together.
