The new year is symbolic for new beginnings, fad diets, and expensive gym memberships. Instead of focusing on the few extra pounds you put on over the holidays, take the new year as a time to implement stronger operations processes, prioritize new goals, and assess the past year. By getting clear on your intentions for the new year, you’ll be one step closer to reaching your 2019 goals.
Plan
Take the beginning of the year as a time to evaluate the different areas of your business. What is the strongest aspect of your business? What could use some work? We recommend getting clear on expectations by creating SMART goals each quarter. This provides you with qualitative direction for things you want to achieve. Subscribe for your own SMART goals worksheet.
Prioritize
Successful growth requires prioritization of tasks and strategies. If your sales team has been slacking, perhaps it’s time to put more energy into re-assessing sales goals or implementing new processes. A popular prioritization method is the ABC method. Go through your tasks and assign them in level of importance, with A being critical, B being important but not as time sensitive, and C being an optional task.
People
Many companies evaluate employees at the end of the year, providing them with Holiday bonuses and raises when working past expectation. Start your year by fostering growth within your team with additional training, mentorship, and incentive-based goals. Find out what makes each of your team members tick. By providing them with interest-based opportunities you will create a happier and more engaged team.
Procedures
It’s never a bad time to take a microscope to your business procedures. While we’re busy plugging away, our business procedures can become outdated – making our lives harder, not easier. Peter Kozodoy, of GEM Advertising, recommends that you invest in education and build a trusted network of fellow entrepreneurs and creatives to keep you on track and help point out any procedural downfalls you may have.
Pace
As you begin to grow through the aforementioned tactics, you can incrementally grow in other aspects of your business as well. However, it’s important to make sure that you’re scaling at a pace that you can maintain. If a small boutique were to be added on Oprah’s Favorite Things list, it could crash the company if proper infrastructure for that order volume wasn’t in place. Make sure you’re constantly assessing where you can grow and where you should maintain current size.
Are you ready for the new year? Call us for a free consultation to make sure your business operations are on track for a year of success and growth.
