8 New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business Owners
Page table of contents
1. I will learn to delegate tasks so I can get more done.
2. I will learn how to manage my cash flow more effectively
3. I will use internet marketing tools
4. I will demand proper payment for what I have done
5. I will learn something new
6. I will review the business results every week
7. I will discard what is not working and move forward
8. I will promote my business regularly
When people think of their New Year’s resolutions, they are usually ‘to exercise more’, ‘to spend more time with family and friends’, ‘to travel more’. These commitments apply to your personal life, but you should make commitments to your small business. A commitment is a decision to do something differently to promote positive change. Look back at the performance of your business in the past year and set new goals and plan how to implement them for the new year!
I will learn to delegate tasks so I can get more done.
As a small business owner, your to-do list for one day probably cannot be written on one A4 sheet. There are so many things to do that you don’t know where to start, but you want to do everything yourself, because you don’t believe that someone else will be able to do it at least as well as you. Therefore, your working day ends well if it is 20:00 and you are exhausted and have no time for anything else.
Delegation is the key to a healthy work-leisure relationship. But how to overcome the desire to do everything yourself and entrust part of the work to someone else? How to get this work done correctly and on time? Simple! Take the time to teach your employees or outsourcers everything they need to do the job. It might take a little more time today, but it will definitely pay off in the future.
I will learn how to manage my cash flow more effectively
Cash flow is the most important part of small business. In fact, one study concluded that 82% of new businesses fail due to poor cash flow management. Smart and responsible cash flow management will protect you from unnecessary stress and your business from a sudden lack of cash. Smart cash flow management will allow your business to grow faster.
I will use internet marketing tools
Has it been more than a year since the last post in the blog section of your website? Have you not yet changed lats to euros on the price page on your website? Your website is showing bugs on mobile phones? It’s high time you should start using all the useful tools provided by internet marketing! By the way, they are free and will allow you to reach a huge audience that knows absolutely nothing about you! Email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, pay per click or PPC – have you heard of these?
I will demand proper payment for what I have done
Do you think that the price of your product or service is underestimated? If so, then you need to raise your prices in a hurry and ask for a price that corresponds to the value of the product/service. You must now think that raising prices will make your existing customers disappear and new customers will not buy your product because of the high price. It is possible that someone will also disappear due to the new prices, but you can prove your price with quality. If the services you provide or the products you sell are of good quality, then people will not risk experimenting by choosing another supplier.
I will learn something new
New year, new skills. Choose a new skill you will learn in 2018 – it can be related to your business or completely unrelated. Learning a new skill will open the door to new opportunities and new contacts. If you choose to learn a new foreign language, it will give you the opportunity to communicate with the people of this country and possibly develop your business in this country.
I will review the business results every week
Planning and analysis are very, very important if you want to see your small business grow. Often times, running a small business is very chaotic and it’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day tasks. Planning is a great tool so that you don’t get confused and always know why you are doing what you are doing. Set goals for each day of the week, week, month, year. Every week, evaluate whether you have approached the annual goal, achieved the daily and weekly goals. Such planning will definitely help you and even motivate you, seeing that the goals are fulfilled.
I will discard what is not working and move forward
If you regularly plan your business, you will definitely notice things that are not working. Maybe a sales channel gives a very small return, maybe one of your products has gone out of fashion or the cooperation with the company “Sens” is unsuccessful. Maybe it’s time to stop using this advertising channel, market this product or end the partnership. Why not invent new bikes and instead of making what doesn’t work into something that does, maybe try something else? You need to move forward, because something good can happen along the way!
I will promote my business regularly
Since small business owners have a lot to do, the marketing section can sometimes be overlooked. While you think about your existing customers and provide them with the best services/goods every day, you should not forget to tell others about how good your goods/services are as well. To attract new customers, you need to make marketing a priority. Find time to create a marketing plan or order a marketing plan from professionals. Start actively using social networks to reach your customers. Create quality content about your business that people will be happy to share. Tell everyone you meet about your business.