By Mike Wicks
Every now and again I feel a surge of enthusiasm for my business – it can be when we come to a new year, or in September when I’m back in full business mode after enjoying summer. It’s during these times that I want to take some action to give my business, myself and my staff a pick-me-up or a kick-start.
Whatever time of year offers you the opportunity of a fresh start, here are six things you can do right now to increase the chances of business success in the next twelve months.
- Hold a retreat with your management team, staff, mentors, advisors, or whomever helps you with your business. Take a good look at where your business stands currently and where you would like it to be by the end of the year. Come up with six goals, break them down into objectives and action points and allocate responsibility for each action point to someone and attach a timeline. The number of goals doesn’t matter but it should not be too many.
- Incorporate a new business philosophy – less is more. You, as the business owner, can’t focus on everything at once, so decide what your personal priorities are and focus on them keenly.
- Reach out to your customers and wish them success. At the same time provide them with something that adds value to what you already sell them. This doesn’t have to cost you a lot, or anything at all. Think about how you can offer them something that will add value to their business. It may be as simple as sending them useful information about your industry, or how they can use your product or service better. It could be a discount, or perhaps you could start sending them an eMagazine or newsletter.
- When was the last time you took a long, hard look at your finances? Many of us are so busy working in our businesses we forget the value of working on our business. Make an appointment with your accountant and sit down with them to go through your most recent financials. Look closely at your gross and net profits, especially study your expenses and look at where you might save money. Remember every $100 saved on your expenses and costs goes straight to bottom line profit. Ask your accountant to supply you with quarterly management accounts so you can keep track of your financial performance and take action quickly when things are not going to plan.
- This is a fun one – create a bucket list for your business. If there were no barriers what would you like for your business? Maybe you want to end the year with no line of credit, or perhaps afford a new computer or other piece of equipment? Perhaps you’d like to double your staff, have the courage to fire someone, or hold a sales conference in the sun somewhere. No matter, create your list and you’ll be surprised at how opportunities to check some of them off will all of a sudden appear.
- Finally, for one entire week make a note of all your workday activities. One way to do this easily is to use a day book and jot down what you are currently doing and once you move onto something else note the start and finish time of that and all subsequent activities. At the end of the week annotate the list to show which activities made money for your business and which didn’t. Success lies in doing more of the activities that increase revenues and less of those that don’t – the latter actually cost your business. When I was a consultant some years ago I noted how many hours a day I actually billed rather than did other stuff and was surprised to learn I was only making money for about 25 percent of the week
I hope that the next twelve months will be good for you and your business. Success relies in great part on a positive attitude and how well we focus on the important things in our business. If in this new period you focus on the areas of your business that make money, rather than cost money it will be like you have given your business a health tonic – a pick-me-up!