Planning for Business Success in the New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, spent with loved ones, and was able to take a little time off. I rarely do take time off, and these past few days were truly wonderful – just being with my family and not paying attention to my phone or computer. It was well-deserved and much appreciated, and now I am ready to focus on the New Year.

This time of year we typically see lots of advice on how to prepare our businesses and ourselves for the new year, so that we can be more successful. I hope the following will help you to focus on prioritizing, planning and achieving success.

Organize. I know many talented, smart business colleagues who are not reaching their full potential because they are not organized. The clutter in their business lives truly makes it hard for them to drive forward and be the ultimate version of themselves. Organization is so important in business and in all aspects of your life, and there is no time like the present to start. Whether you use programs and apps to keep track of expenses, files, clients, appointments, or plain file folders and tabs and spreadsheets…there is just so much out there to help you get organized.

This could obviously be a post in itself, so I’ll leave it at this: find the way that helps you best, and just get started. Load all your contacts into a program, organize your files, record all your expenses in a program or at least in a folder. Then make lists of all the things you can do to stay organized throughout the year, and stick to it.

Prioritize. I have really been focusing on this task with my middle-school aged daughter, and it is hard to learn. Many of us tend to jump in and tackle things, with no plan. But if you stop and prioritize first, you will make your life a lot easier. Sometimes in business everything can seem like top priority, and this is where you need to take a step back and not let things bog you down. I make a list each morning when I start work of the things I need to accomplish that day, in order of importance. Throughout the course of the day my list might be altered, things will have to be pushed down to the bottom, and others will have to be tabled until the following day. But the fact that I have this list every day makes getting things done a lot easier.

Contact management. This is clearly a must for any business dealing with clients or customers. Staying in contact with these people is not only important, it is the difference between business life and death. Keeping all your contacts in an organized fashion helps you to stay in contact with them, call them, and not forget that they are your most important assets. There are many programs to help you do this, from free (like MailChimp) to expensive (like TopProducer). You can also use spread sheets, but make sure you update them constantly and pay attention to these most important assets!

Blogging. I have written blogs about the importance of blogging, yet many people still do not blog. If it is fear preventing you from doing so, you have nothing to be afraid of. You do not have to be a writer to blog. What you do have to be in an area/field expert – talk about what you know. The more you do, the more you will be seen as an expert, which will drive customers to you. and open up other opportunities. If you don’t like to write you can use video. The important thing is just to do it, and to make your content rich with information – fun, interesting, and informative.

Time management. Your time is extremely valuable. Many of us get so caught up in all the things we have to do that we fail to take care of ourselves, spend time with loved ones, relax…we need all those things! You cannot be successful if you are just a driven machine all the time. Each weekend I schedule all my appointments for the week ahead – business appointments, meetings, classes, and everything else – like picking up my children from school, working out, family time, date night with my husband and personal appointments. If it is in my schedule it is sacred (sometimes things need to be moved around, but I strive to stick to it). If you still can’t do it, you might want to think about hiring an assistant.

The bottom line is that you can be more productive and more successful. Of course, there are other things you can do and you can take things  to another level with apps, programs and other ideas, but whatever you do this coming year, try to keep organized, prioritize, and make time for yourself. Have a very happy New Year!

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