“What is your resolve this year?” by Steve Marsten

Happy New Year to you all! I have been reading the doom and gloom stories that are currently surrounding us and frankly there are so many of them dealing with stock market crashes; the China stumble; the oil price crash and the economic wind down right here in Australia, that it’s a wonder we’re not all curling up in a ball and rocking away in the corner. 2016 does look like it may be a little more difficult. That means we must be focused and committed to our resolutions.

I’ll admit I am a resolution setter. However I don’t beat myself up if everything isn’t ticked off. The goal is – “set some goals”! Last year I set myself 12 goals. They ranged from Business, Personal and Health. I wrote them down and looked at the sheet every day. Eight were achieved; two were progressed and I didn’t do as well as I would have liked on two others. Either time got away from me or I was not fully committed to them as I should have been.

So with that in mind, I wanted to touch on some business goals given that the economy is expected to be flatter this year. I always take stock of my business and determine how it can be improved. Focus on your or your business’ shortcomings. If you are not sure of what they are, ask a respected client or customer – they are usually quick to tell you. Of course receiving difficult feedback does not always sit well with many business owners, however I think if you are in the right mindset,  it should be taken as gold! Don’t try to defend yourself – the goal is to improve yourself and your business.

Feedback – good or bad, can be liberating because you have a chance to work on and hence improve services or products. Many people over the break cleaned out their shed or backroom or their drawers that were full of rubbish built up over the year – well the same can happen to your business. Problems can tend to build up rather than hit us in the face and hence we should use the quieter times in business to declutter and identify the areas that need addressing. The five areas that we will be encouraging clients to look at this year include cashflow; staffing; leads; marketing and automating your business. They may not sound new but that’s because they never go out of fashion.

Call us on 4972 1300 for a consultation to establish your New Year resolutions and commit to a profitable year!