“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” – Peter Drucker
Sometimes, in your personal and professional life you have to look back in order to understand the potential of the things that lie ahead. This time of year can be incredibly stressful for each of us, in many ways. But here’s a challenge for you this month – schedule some time for yourself, reflect on what the past year has been like, and use this learning to think forward for the year 2020. In my experience, many small business owners I interact with regularly, often tell me that they have everything planned out. But “use more videos in marketing” and “keep the blog up and about” is not what anyone would call a long-term strategy and plan for you, as a business owner and leader.
Have you taken the time out to PLAN yet? If you find yourself struggling with it, here’s a little something I think could help you out!
Why it is important for all business owners to reflect on the past year
Whether you hate doing this, you don’t understand the process or if you are nervous about the results – read these reasons why entrepreneurs must look into understanding and analysing the year that was, in order to take the business to heights.
Reviewing your progress and growth in your business at regular intervals will be particularly useful if you feel:
- uncertain about how well the company is performing
- unsure if you are getting the most out of the business
- your business plan may be out of date
- your business is moving in a different direction
- the business may be becoming unresponsive to market demands
- your company is ready to move on to another level but you don’t know how
Reflect and improve your business the right way
As business owners, we all wonder how we managed to get to where we are, is this really where we want to be and what’s next. But it’s not enough to simply think about all of this.
Start by answering a few questions as follows and re-enter 2020 motivated, informed and prepared:
- Your biggest achievement that you are proud of (big or small): It could be an amazing new employee you hired, working their magic, a great networking event that got you business or a new product or service that you finally rolled out. Celebrate your wins!
- What your business dashboard was like: a business dashboard can tell you at a glance how you are performing on social media, how much traffic you are getting, sales, revenue and so on. Assess your accomplishments!
- How many clients did you serve: Depending on whether the numbers are off the charts or really low, you will need to work on keeping your customers glued in the coming years. Whether some areas need improvement, what are the current threats, how will they inhibit your success and how you can level the playing field with your strengths – have a plan!
- What works really well and what needs to be improved: For instance, you could be doing well at marketing your product or service but it may so happen that you still struggle with lead conversion and getting customers onboard. How will you tackle this?
- Where do you require help: consider thinking about whether you are spending time on things that you can add value to, would things run smoother if you had more team members or a VA to take over certain tasks and so on. It’s okay to ask for help!
I can help you grow your business exponentially
If you have a business operations, systems or processes question that you’d like answered, join me at my monthly Q&A sessions where I will answer your questions personally.
Starting and growing a business can be hard, but the thing that makes it easier is having the right people on your side and the systems, checklists and processes to help you and your team (even if you are outsourcing) run your business efficiently and effectively, giving you back precious time with your family and also time to do the thing that you do best, work on your business.
I can help you and I can start by answering your questions. Join me here on this link
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