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Your Business’ New Year’s Resolutions

It time once again to welcome in a New Year when many of us list our resolutions to improve ourselves personally – to lose weight or get in shape, and so later we may tease ourselves for not following up.

Make resolutions, not for you personally, but for your business. These are rewarding to make and keep, and there will be no teasing. Not only are business resolutions useful, they can make a big difference in your success and help you keep your work-life in balance.

1) Delegate and do more of it.

Don’t do it all. Evaluate how important a task is for you to do and decide if it’s worth your time when you might be achieving something else. Give tasks to someone else. Delegation is the key to a healthy work-life balance.

2) Promote your business regularly and consistently.

The task of promoting the business often slips to the bottom of the to-do list with the daily running of the business. A business must grow and attract new customers and clients, so promotion has to be a priority. Make a New Year’s resolution to hire a marketing expert (you know who), setting aside the time and budget. You’ll be working smarter, not harder when it comes to promotion.

3) Make business planning a weekly event.

Keep a weekly plan to keep the business healthy and growing. What does this mean? Take stock of what works and what doesn’t. We complete an exercise at the office – What must we START doing, STOP doing, and CONTINUE doing. Most business people do this, but once a year or once a quarter. Simply step it up and have a weekly review. Frequent planning finds costly mistakes quicker and the business stays on track.

4) Learn something new.

Learning something new adds to your skills and adds a new dimension of interest to your life. What you choose to learn may be directly related to your or be completely unrelated. How will you find time to learn something new? By delegating other tasks.

5) Join a new business organisation or networking group.

There’s nothing like talking to other business people for sparking new ideas, refining old ones, and making contacts. Whether it’s a group specifically designed for networking or an organisation dedicated to your particular type of business, being a part of a group will get you out of a stuck routine, and revitalise you as well as help your business. I am part of EO. A peer to peer group of Entrepreneurs. It has single handledly been the biggest influence on my life both business and personal.

6) Give something back to your community.

Find a cause that matters to you, and give what you can. Serve on a committee, be a mentor, volunteer, or make regular donations to the groups in your community that try to make the place you live a better place. Nothing creates goodwill better or makes you feel better.

7) Put time for you on your calendar.

It’s important to take time to recharge and refresh for a healthy work-life balance. If you have trouble freeing up time to do the things you enjoy, schedule to “meet with yourself” and stick to that commitment. If you won’t invest in yourself, who will?

8) Set realistic goals.

Set goals that are achievable, rather than unrealistic pipe dreams that are so far out of reach they only lead to frustration. Make sure there is a stretch otherwise you will simply be ticking boxes.

9) Don’t make do; get a new one.

Is there a piece of equipment in your office that’s interfering with your success or something that you lack that’s making your working life harder? Whether it’s an old server that’s slow to use, or the need for a new employee to lighten your work load, make a New Year’s resolution to stop putting off getting what you need.

10) Drop what’s not working for you and move on.

All products aren’t super sellers, all sales methods aren’t going to work for all, and all suppliers or contractors aren’t going to be ideally suited to your business. So stop using what doesn’t work. It’s okay to let go.

Achieving a healthy work-life balance is like maintaining a good personal relationship; you have to keep working on it. But if you apply these New Year’s resolutions throughout the year, your success is practically guaranteed!