The New Year is Here

I’ve been talking for the past month about what to do at year’s end to prepare your business to grow this year. Well, the new year is here. You rang it in. You celebrated. You may have even taken some time off. But, the year arrived punctual as the lunar phases.

Act to Improve Your Business

So, now you need to implement the business plans you made or modified. The following steps will help your business grow:

• Keep your accounts payable and receivable posted and current
• Begin the process of introducing a new product or enhancing a current one
• Act on the marketing strategies, campaigns, methods, and vehicles you developed
• Strengthen your sales systems to increase sales per client and dollars per transaction
• Take good care of your existing clients with reminders, gifts, contact, and service
• Ask your current clients what they like about your product and how to improve it
• Discover how to speed up your manufacturing or processing systems to reduce costs
• Lower costs by taking advantage of purchasing discounts and less expensive vendors
• Hire the right people either as employees, contract workers, or virtual assistants
• Consult with professional tax, legal, financial planning, and other experts
• Join appropriate business or professional associations and attend meetings
• Choose 1-2 new skills to develop through classes, workshops,  or conferences

Don’t Try to Do Everything all at Once

The list above includes a lot of things you can do. I suggest that trying to do all of them at once could overextend your time and resources. Select 2-3 a month and focus on them. Add a few tasks to your To-Do List each week. Either try some new tasks or stop doing ineffective tasks that do not generate your desired results.

Anticipate the tasks that will lead to the desired results. Plan which tasks will give you the best return on investment. Evaluate the success of each task to measure progress towards the desired goal.

Remember that obstacles will arise. Not every task will lead to success. Many tasks will require multiple attempts. You may need to revise your plan or try a different approach to achieve your goals. You will require persistence, adaptability, and endurance to accomplish  what you want.

You have a year or more to do so. Take advantage of the year.

Please read Thursday’s post about how a mastermind group can accelerate your success