Whether you just started your business this year or you have been at it for years, let’s reflect on this past year for you and your business. What worked? What didn’t? Are there things you wish you would have done that you did not, or vice versa? Did you spend your year stressed out? Did you have problems with your employees? All of these questions and more are what you should be asking yourself at the end of every year.
Why? Reflecting on your business’s past year allows you to see the potential growth that you might not have seen while you were in the middle of your everyday tasks. Take an hour, a day, or even a week to write down everything you are proud that your business did this year, areas that could use improvement, and everything that you wished would have happened but did not. After you have a paper—or a notebook—full of notes, then it’s time to reflect.
Block out an afternoon of your day to really understand where your business went right and where it went not so right this past year. After you feel like you have a better understanding of the past year then it’s time. Time for resolutions. It is almost the New Year after all, so why not go all out? New Year’s resolution can be a pretty heavy term that is associated with failure and incompletion, but not for you and your business. 2020 will be your best year yet, all it takes is a little planning.
Follow these five steps to create the best resolutions for you and your business.
1. Review Your Current Business Plan
Are there outdated portions of your business plan or areas that could use expansion? Do you even have a business plan? Your business plan should grow with your business and being able to revise will allow you to see potential growth and help you create goals for the future.
The New Year is a great time to reflect on if you are meeting or exceeding your goals and objectives, or if you need to take a step back and revise. There is no shame if you aren’t meeting your current goals and objectives, but it does allow you to research why and how you could meet those goals in the future.
2. Fine Tune Your Customer Service
Every business wants to create an environment where their customer enjoys their experience and continues to come back. Are you helping facilitate that experience and environment where you have happy clients or customers?
Taking time to understand how your consumer sees your business creates room for growth. There could be hundreds of areas of improvement or just one. Areas of improvement could include interactions with your consumer face to face or via social media, email response time, reviews on Google or Yelp, and even marketing strategies. Every business is different but every business has room for improvement in customer service.
3. Get Involved In Your Community
Being involved in your community does not always mean monetary donations. Being involved can be volunteering one weekend a month or providing education to those in need. Acts that cost you nothing but can be essential to bringing your employees closer together and your business stand out in the community.
While doing good deeds should be the root of being involved in your community, the free publicity does not hurt. People seeing you make a difference in their community may make them more inclined to use your business in the future.
4. Listen To Your Employees
Do you have weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly meetings with your employees? If you answered no, you might want to rethink it. Employees are the backbone of your business and should be treated with respect and admiration.
Allowing employees time and a place where they can bring up workplace problems, or places they see improvement, may allow you to see areas of your business that need improvement you didn’t even know existed. Employees see things that you do not and might surprise you with new ideas for resolutions.
5. Be Kind To Yourself
Wait, is that possible? To set aside your business and think of you? We think it is. Your physical and mental health is the most important when it comes to running your business. If you are not taking time for yourself then it is possible to become overwhelmed with stress in your day to day tasks. If you do not enjoy going to work, then something has gone wrong.
Take time to reflect on times where you were kind to yourself this past year and times that you were not. If your unkind times outweigh the kind, then you need to revise. Maybe you need to delegate more or find a way to manage stress that works better for you. Let us say it again. Be kind to yourself.
Finding areas of improvement in your business might prove easy for you, but implementing resolutions to complete those areas of improvement might be challenging. With proper time, reflection, and ideas you will be sure to crush creating resolutions for your business. But remember after you create your those resolutions you need to follow through.
Use a goal tracking app like Monday to help you stay on track of important reminders to meet your goals and objectives throughout the year. Taking the time now will allow a happier, more fulfilling business in the future. If you need help revamping or making a business plan, ideas on marketing strategies, or if you’re ready to delegate out some of your day to day tasks, reach out to Monkey VA today!
