End-of-Year Review: Tips for Entrepreneurs & Business Owners
We’re now in the final days of 2022 and it is the perfect time to reflect on the year. As we approach the new year, entrepreneurs and business owners are focusing on closing the year on a high, looking to set better goals, and create an actionable plan to improve opportunities to elevate their business in 2023. Here are some practical tips that help you make the most of these last precious days of the year.
LET’S CLOSE OUT 2022!
Christmas holidays are coming, and for many of us busy entrepreneurs, this is the perfect time to catch up with all the things we put off during the year and didn't have time to dedicate time to.
For many, it’s book-keeping! If you're behind on that, now is the time! You need to go through your KPIs, your profit per session, your booking rates, and your average client spend. Once you analyse and calculate all those numbers per month, per quarter and per year that will give you valuable insight into your business. Take the time to really look at these numbers and understand them, as they help you notice any trends, mistakes, successes and obstacles that will eventually determine what you want to improve and your plans for the coming year.
Also review your branding, pricing, services, marketing strategy, ideal client and all of the components that make up your business as a whole. Is everything still relevant or are there any changes you would like to make moving forward?
Digital Cleaning of the office is as important as cleaning the office itself, if not more because we run most of our business operations through them!
The holiday season brings an opportunity to give your devices, apps, and online accounts a good decluttering. You should clean them up to protect your privacy and your business files because when there are fewer sensitive files lying about, there’s less for hackers to scoop up and exploit.
We all accumulate plenty of digital clutter that needs cleaning up from time to time. Go through your devices, as well as any cloud space, and tidy up all the files that have been downloaded, saved, copied etc! Delete all the unnecessary and duplicated files, and make sure to empty your Recycle Bin afterwards!
Next comes the review of all of your accounts, bookmarks, your password manager, and all the other places where you store your passwords and usernames associated with your business. If there are accounts you haven’t used in some time, log in one last time, remove all your business info, and deactivate it.
Most businesses have a marketing strategy around the holidays. Some do special offers, and some organise Christmas parties. Whether you are a solopreneur or a business owner, Christmas is the perfect excuse to re-contact all your old and new clients and suppliers, and make them remember you again! You can send hand-written Christmas cards, or Christmas Baskets full of goodies! Don’t be shy! Don’t just do a “Happy Holidays” post on social media. Instead, take advantage of this holiday, and re-connect with your network! Who knows, maybe some business deals will come out of this reconnection in the new year!
LET’S PREPARE & PLAN FOR 2023!
Now that you took the time to catch up on all your books, and you’ve been going through all your numbers and financials, then have everything handy. So you might as well go ahead and prepare everything for the next tax season so that you can get it out of the way early and hassle-free. When it comes the time you can just send it over to your accountant, or plug in the numbers if you do it yourself, and be done with it. No rush to your accountant the day before the tax deadline with a packed box of receipts in 2023!
Sit back (with a glass of wine) and look at the big picture. Look at where you are now, and where you want to go and think of all the things you need to do in order to get there. Be inspired when you are developing your business goals for the upcoming year. Though, keep in mind that we don’t live in an ideal world where all dreams come true!
Even though plans and goals are vital to the success of every business and entrepreneur, we live in a real world where things can happen that are out of our control as happened in 2020! One thing we can learn from the covid pandemic is that while we need to plan, we also need to be flexible and creative!
That’s why I suggest that you set very clear, very specific, and very practical goals for 2023, and divide them into essentials and non-essentials. Do everything you can to reach your essential objectives, and be more flexible with your non-essential plans if things don’t go exactly quite as perfectly as you have hoped for.
Next year, this time, when you’re doing this kind of review, how do you want your 2023 to have turned out? What are the essentials that you want them to have happened? What are the wins you want to be sure to have? A certain number of clients for each week or month? A specific revenue or income?
Break that down by quarter, by month, and by week so that you can constantly stay on top of your goals and work towards them. Before you know it another year has passed and November and December of next year sneak up on you without making much progress. So, keep up with appointments, and marketing plans, and track all your key performance indicators.
What are the latest trends in your industry? What are your ideal clients doing? What are your competitors planning? What are the upcoming important events such as fairs and conferences that you can attend?
Check out what events are going on next year in your community. Go ahead and mark all the holidays or seasonal occasions and relevant events to your business in your calendar, so nothing is forgotten when you’ll get busy with the day-to-day business and life. Start putting together a strategy for next year, planning your promotional events and offers around those dates to make sure you make the most out of them.
Last but not least, make sure that you are inspired and passionate about what you do. Most successful business leaders and entrepreneurs look into their personal passions for inspiration and find ways their businesses could support that passion. Set goals that align with an area you care about. What are you passionate about?
In 2023, let’s resolve problems that can make the world we live in a better place for all of us. May it be prosperous for all.
