You’re not short on ideas about how to prep for next year–everyone’s talking about it. My biggest piece of advice to you is this: Don’t over-complicate it.
You don’t need to have all the answers today or even next month. But you do need to do a little bit of planning to make sure you stay the course in the new year.
Don’t make it about accomplishing the most, but rather about accomplishing the right things. It’s not about making the most money, but about making the best impact for you and your audience.
Last year I gave you a list of things you can do to get ready for the new year. While this is all still valid, I’m personally in a space of simplifying as I grow my business. If you are too, take note of this to-the-point list of what to do in the last few weeks of the year as you prepare.
Celebrate 2018
As business owners, we spend so much time looking at what’s ahead that we don’t really celebrate where we’ve come from.
Take some time to celebrate this year–what you’ve accomplished, what you’ve learned and how you’ve grown. This is such an important step. And if you’re struggling to come up with the positives? Ask a biz bestie for help! It’s also important to look back and determine whether you met your objectives–and what you could have done differently.
In the next year, set yourself up to have those wins handy by creating a win file on your computer. Every time you receive kudos or a shout-out, copy and paste it into a document that you keep handy.
Know Your Boundaries
Before you get started planning, you need to know what your personal and professional boundaries are. What time of year does your family need you more? When will your children be off school or involved in extracurricular activities?
Put these on your calendar first, before you plan out your business goals. We went into business so we could control our calendars and fit our business into our life, not the other way around.
Create a Marketing Plan
Your business isn’t going to grow much if you don’t have a marketing plan in place to help get you out there.
You probably have a good idea of what you’re going to launch in the coming year and what you want to focus on. Use this to help guide your marketing plan, then use that marketing plan to help determine who you’ll need in your business and how much time you’ll need them. This is critical in planning and budgeting. Ask yourself when the money will come in and when it will go out. (And have a plan for when the money goes out before it comes in. That’s usually the way it works!)
From there, it’s truly a matter of sticking to your plan and getting it done! If the actual down-and-dirty work is a challenge for you, it’s not too late to sign up for my Get it Done Getaway!
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