This time of year is a great time to reflect on your business’s progress over the past year and plan how you want your business to develop in the year to come.
So, with every New Year, business owners take a break, have a hard look at their life and their business…and say to themselves, “This year – we’re going to be better, we’re going to change and we’re going to do things differently…”
They make New Years resolutions…And what happens?
53 percent of businesses do not maintain their New Year’s resolutions because their planned changes are either too expensive or take up too many resources (Resource: Health & Safety Executive – HSE – 2006).
75 percent of change initiatives fail because the organisation is unsuccessful in managing the human reaction to change. (Resource: John P. Kotter, Leading Change, 1996)
Think about how many times you’ve done that very thing in the past. Just how many of those fabulous resolutions did you actually stick to?
The odds are not in your favour. You lose focus, priorities change, and the resolutions become once again, not worth the paper they’re written on.
Try these 10 New Year’s resolutions – boost your business and gain a better work-life balance.
- Learn how to delegate and do more of it.
There are so many things to do when you’re running a business, it’s easy to delude ourselves that we need to do all of them. Then we wonder why we’re so tired and frazzled and have no time to do anything else! Determine the return on the personal time you invest in the jobs you do, and let someone else do some them for a change. Delegation is the key to a healthy work-life balance. - Promote your business regularly and consistently.
If you want to attract new customers, you have to make promotion a priority. Make a New Year’s resolution to hire a marketing expert, or take the time to create a marketing plan on your own and follow through. - Make business planning a monthly event.
If you want a healthy, growing business then regularly take stock of what worked and what didn’t work, and set new directions or adjust your goals. Set aside time each month to review your financials, adjust, and look forward. Not only will this help you avoid costly mistakes and stay on track, but you’ll feel more focused and relaxed. - Learn something new.
Learning something new adds to your skills and add a new dimension to your life. You might meet new and interesting people, who become customers, colleagues, or friends. How will you find the time to learn something new? By delegating, remember? - Join a new business or networking group.
There’s nothing like talking to other business people for sparking new ideas and making contacts. Whether it’s a group specifically designed for networking or an organisation dedicated to a particular group of businesses, in person or over the net, making the effort to be a part of a group will revitalize you and your business. - Give something back to your community.
Find a cause that matters to you, and give what you can to the groups in your community that make the place you live a better place. Those that give get. Nothing will seed and grow goodwill for you and your business better. - Put time for you on your calendar. Take the time to recharge and refresh yourself; demand time out. All work and no play is a recipe for being dull and lethargic. If you won’t invest in yourself, who will?
- Set goals. Make a New Year’s resolution that the goals you set will achievable, rather than unrealistic pipe dreams that are so far out of reach they’ll only frustrate you. Then say, “I will.” Not, “I want to.”
- Don’t make do; get a new one. Is there something in your business that’s holding you back? Whether it’s an old machine that’s a pain to use, or the need to outsource services to lighten your work load, stop putting off getting what you need. Making do just isn’t worth it.
- Drop what’s not working for you and move on. All products aren’t going to be super sellers; all sales methods aren’t going to work for everyone; and all suppliers, contractors and employees aren’t going to be ideally suited to your business for ever and ever. If a business relationship isn’t working for you, stop using it. Don’t invest a lot of energy into trying to make the unworkable work. Move on. Something better will turn up.
Improving your business results and achieving work-life balance is like maintaining a good relationship; you have to keep working on it.
Make Your Resolutions Now
Don’t just read this list and start making excuses, thinking how nice it would be to have the time or inclination to do this.
You could boost your business just by working on a couple of the above points over the coming months.
There’s an old saying “If nothing changes, nothing changes….”
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Call Smart to find out how much time and money outsourcing your admin could save you.
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