Now that the year is coming to an end and production is winding down, how do you use that extra time you don’t typically have during the year? Planning and getting ready for the next business year is always a great idea. Let’s walk you through a couple things you should consider.
Year in Review
Now is a perfect time to review the year. How have sales been over the past year? How do they compare to the previous year? What worked well and what didn’t? Who are your best customers? Are they still adding to your bottom line? Of the new customers you brought into your business, are you helping them plan for their 2022? Does the 80/20 rule still apply to your current customer base? If you lose a customer, will your business suffer? If so, is there a plan in place to replace them? These are all good questions to ask to make sure you cover all your bases.
Set Goals for 2022
Goal setting does not have to be a complicated and drawn-out effort. Sometimes, it is just the simple act of figuring out what you want to accomplish and writing it down in bullet point form. Or, you can look ahead to a year from now, December of 2022, and ask yourself, “where should I be at the end of the year?”. Sometimes working backward helps us move forward, especially when it comes to planning.
Write it all down or type it all up to make sure you have those goals somewhere for you to reference later. Whether to hold yourself accountable or to just remind yourself of what you hope to achieve this year.
Or, if you really like to plan, you can build out sophisticated action plans to achieve the goals. Good action plans are written for 30 days, 60 days, and 90-day plans. If you are actively using them, they should be a rolling plan that is updated after every 30 days. Action plans are great for measuring your success against your end-of-year goals to stay on track.
Whatever goals you set for yourself and your business, it is important to make them achievable. The biggest mistake most people make is they set themselves up for failure against factors they may not control. Think about how your business did during quarantine and the height of the pandemic and make sure your goals are within the realm of possibility even when the unexpected happens.
We hope this helps you with your planning and we are wishing you the best of luck in 2022.
