As one year ends another one begins, there are things you must sit down and review as a business owner. The new year gives us the opportunity to reflect and begin anew. At the end of any calendar year, it’s important to reflect on ideas that may help you finish the year strong. Many people start thinking about how they can end the current year with a bang…in other words…maintain what they have and build on it so they can finish strong. The best way to transition into a new year is with momentum, growth and excitement.
In the fall which is the the 4th quarter of the year, I set aside time to sit, think, reflect and plan about my business. This simple practice helps me to evaluate my business goals and strategy overall as well as how I want to approach the new year. As the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail.
In order to end the year strong you must use the last few months of the year very wisely. With the Thanksgiving holiday in November and Christmas holiday in December, many people take vacation and time off. However, as the owner or manager of your business, you have to be smart about how you plan for the end of the year and any time away from your business. End of year planning requires focus, automation, teamwork and a strategic planning.
My question to you is simply…Have you put a strategic plan in place to end the year on a high note?
Here are few simple ideas that may help you:
1. Recognize What Has Gotten You This Far.
In life we mark certain periods of time with some type of commemoration. After you’ve completed your first twelve years of school in the United States, you graduate with a high school diploma and in college you graduate with a degree in whatever major you have declared. Whenever you are ending a period of time in your business, it’s important to acknowledge how you got to wherever you ended up. Whether your success has been achieved with the help of people, places or things, you must stop to assess what has helped you to accomplish the goals you have reached.
If you’re a small business owner, chances are you did not accomplish everything in your business without help. With that said, who do you need to show acknowledgement and or appreciation to? What team accomplishments should you commemorate? Make sure to show your team that you recognize and appreciate their efforts. This simple act of recognizing them and even rewarding them, will assist in employee loyalty and retention.
If you’re a solo practitioner without a team, think about the marketing efforts and business tools or resources you’ve used to get you as far as you’ve come. What do you need to do more of? What can you eliminate? It’s important to reflect and recognize what is helping you and what isn’t. This one simple idea will help you understand the past as well as prepare for the future.
2. Get Inspired.
There is a lot to be said for people who are self inspired and motivated. However, many folks need a boost in this area. Whether you need to inspire yourself or your team, it doesn’t hurt to get refreshed and energized about what is possible. Make a point to review your goals and show the vision of where you’re headed and paint the picture with your team so that everyone is on the same page. Without a vision of the overall company goals, your team will not feel like they are on a team. You’ve heard the saying: “teamwork makes the dream work”. So show your team what your dream is so they can get inspired to help you achieve it.
3. Celebrate Your Accomplishments.
Who doesn’t like to celebrate? It’s important to take some time to celebrate what worked and relish in doing a job well done. Every human being on the planet wants to occasionally here the words; “thank you” or “good job” so stop and create an event or a platform to celebrate everything you’ve done as a company to achieve your goals. If you’re a solo entrepreneur, you can still celebrate by creating a press release to mention your milestones and share it on social media. Remember, celebrating your success will give you momentum to keep it going. And of course, all work and no play makes for a very dull work environment.
4. Plan for What’s Next.
It wouldn’t be smart to end any period of time without planning for the next phase. A critical step in climbing the ladder of success is planning each step as you go. Take some time out of your busy schedule to plan for your next project, the next year the next phase, the next whatever. The bottom lime is, failing to plan means you are planning to fail. So whatever you do, be intentional about the next phase of your life and your business and create a plan of action.
If you follow these simple steps you will be positioned to end the year strong and on a very positive note.
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Lori A. Manns is an award-winning, marketing, sales coach and business strategist who works with small business owners to help them elevate their brand, get more clients and grow revenue. Lori A. Manns is CEO of Quality Media Consultant Group and founder of the Trailblazer Business Academy™ where advancing entrepreneurs go to learn business growth strategies the soulful way. Lori is also the creator of Sponsorship Sales Secrets System; ™ that shows you how to get more sponsors and sales for your business, guaranteed. To purchase consulting services on marketing, advertising or sales and, learn how to increase your revenue and grow your business; please visit the start here page on www.qualitymediaconsultants.com.