With Christmas being a distant memory, now is the time for businesses to recuperate after their busy festive season, and a great way to do this is to check up on those New Year resolutions to see whether you’ve managed to stick to them.
Don’t despair though, if you find that the resolutions are a distant memory too, it’s not too late to get yourself into gear and plan some objectives which you can realistically achieve over the coming months.
Individuals and businesses alike make resolutions every year. The hard part is sticking to them. Life gets in the way and days pass by without even noticing and here we are, at the end of January, with our resolutions being put ‘on hold’.
Have you stuck to the New Year business resolutions that you may have made? Whether you’re self-employed or a small business, it’s always advisable to have aims which you can work towards and the New Year is a perfect time to plan them.
Here are five resolutions that, if you’ve not made them already, you should consider doing asap!
1. Plan in Advance – as a business, the last thing that you should do is wing it. If you want your customers to rely on you day by day, helping you to maintain your client base and build your reputation, you need to ensure that you know exactly what you’re doing, week by week.
2. Stay on Top of your Paperwork – small businesses and SE individuals often leave the paperwork until the last minute. Tax returns have been submitted and paid for this year, but you’ll soon have a new tax return to fill in and if your paperwork is organised and concise, it’ll be a doddle.
3. Renew your Insurance – this is often an automatic thing that you do, but comparing prices and making sure you have the best insurance products for your services will put you in good stead should something go wrong. Public liability insurance from Hiscox is a great example of a competitively priced product that your business shouldn’t go without.
4. Be more efficient – are there any products or services that you should modify, add or remove completely? Analyse your previous year’s activity and see where you can improve your efficiency so that your customers are getting the best quality and value they can.
From organising your office and catching up on filing to tidying up your website and updating your product line, efficiency is key to success.
5. Learn more – if you’re still stuck in the dark ages and don’t have a clue about the technical side of things, make it your mission to learn! Sure, you know how to write a blog post for your website, but do you know how to update it, or understand SEO? No? Then learn and drive your business forward!
While the wellbeing of your business is, obviously, important, it’s also crucial that you look after yourself too. After all, you’re the face of your business and if you don’t make time to unwind and de-stress, your business will be affected in one way or another.
Let’s make sure that 2014 is a fruitful year for you and your business and stick to any resolutions that you’ve let slip!