As an entrepreneur, you always have a lot to do, and little time in which to do it. But the beginning of the year offers you a unique opportunity to stop, breathe and evaluate. Take advantage of this time to reflect and refocus your efforts. Just like making a list of New Year’s resolutions, we’ve made a list of business owner responsibilities that you might choose to tackle as you head into the new calendar year.
Before you charge ahead into the new year doing business, as usual, check off these essential but manageable tasks on behalf of your business:
Set realistic financial goals
Because you’re a business owner, many of the goals you’ll look to achieve will be financial. Depending on how long you’ve been in business, how successful you’ve been of late, and what you’re looking to achieve in the next year, your financial goals may vary.
The best way to set these goals is to look into well-established systems of team productivity and goal-setting that other companies use to achieve results. Examples include objectives and key results or specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound frameworks.
Migrate busywork to automated solutions
Automated solutions are quickly changing the way we work day-to-day. People now spend much less updating spreadsheets, filling out timesheets or logging correspondence with clients.
We now have AI software and tools that can do these things for us while we focus on getting real work done.
Investigate remote work options
Whether it’s allowing your full-time employees to work from home, contracting remote freelancers to help you complete a project, or utilizing the gig economy to help your business reach new customers (via delivery services, for example) — will be one of the defining work trends of this generation.
Hiring Remote experts gives you access to the best minds at a fraction of the cost of employing them in a full-time capacity.
Evaluate your ROI in marketing efforts
How effective is your SEO and paid marketing activities? For many businesses, email marketing is one of the best channels in digital marketing, as you can use it to recapture abandoned shopping carts, remarket to new buyers, and cement your relationship with existing customers.
But every business is different, so understand who you’re trying to reach and why before you start pouring money into a marketing channel to try to appeal to them. You need to know which marketing Dollars spent generates the best ROI and rather concentrate on investing more into these channels.
Connect with a mentor
No matter what stage of life or business ownership you’re in, a mentor is an invaluable resource. Whether you’re a new or well-established entrepreneur, gaining insight from someone in your field or industry who has been in your shoes can help you navigate uncertainty with greater ease and less financial risk.
According to a recent report, entrepreneurs basically fall into two camps: people who have benefited from having a mentor, and people who wish they had benefited from having a mentor.
If you don’t do quarterly or biannual check-ins or reviews, the beginning of the year is a great time to do an annual review. No business owner is an island. Keep your team informed as to how you’re doing and what’s coming next, and you’ll get greater buy-in and enthusiasm than if you keep them in the dark until the day of changes arrives.