10 New Year's Business Resolutions

If you are a small business owner and thinking about what you are going to resolve to do in the new year (besides that personal resolution of losing weight... for the 4th year in a row!), here are a few ideas for you.  Please don't resolve to do the whole list, just pick one or two, and if you complete them you can always add others.

1. Prepare a Strategic Plan.  If you have a team of employees, include some or all of them and take at least a half-day to lay out a good Strategic Plan for your business.  You and your team will be energized by it, you'll come away with priorities to work on and your team will be more aligned with the direction you'd like the business to move.
2. Communicate Employee Expectations.  One simple way to do this is to prepare Position Descriptions for each position and then sit down with each employee and discuss what you expect of them.  Give them a chance for input and clarification so that they'll have a sense of ownership of their position.  Often employees feel that they would be happy to do whatever the boss wants.... if he/she would only tell them!
3. Improve Your Financial Statement Understanding.  Admit it.  You don't look at your financial statements very much, do you?  If these critical numbers don't make much sense to you, let this be the year you seek some guidance on how to utilize these tools to make your business more successful.
4. Add One Element to your Marketing Plan.  Most of us don't utilize as many marketing tactics as we should in promoting our businesses.  And new marketing approaches seem to be created every day.  Find one (or two) good ones, and implement them to improve your lead generation.
5. Delegate More.  If you are so critical that your business can't run without you and if you complain that you don't have the time you'd like to enjoy life a little more, how about finding Low-Value, Low-Fun tasks that you do and offload them to someone else?  Make this the year that you graduate to running your business rather than it running you.
6. Measure More Stuff.  Otherwise known as Key Performance Indicators, there are things in your business that mean a lot to your success.  Find a way to measure them and report them frequently, and they will magically focus your entire team on things that they can do to improve results.
7. Re-Think Your Unique Selling Proposition.  If you don't know what this USP is, think of it as a summary of your key marketing messages.  What are you saying about your business that compels customers to do business with you instead of your competitors?  If you have an USP, it might be time to re-think it because target customers and how they think can change over time.  If you don't have an USP, well, you know....
8. Raise Price.  When was the last time you had a price increase?  If more than a year ago, you need to seriously consider an upward adjustment again.  Your costs aren't going down are they?  Unless you are in a commodity business and happy about it, you need to sell value and price it for what it's worth.
9. Offer Something More.  If your product or service hasn't changed in the last five years, you may be losing ground.  What new products or services could you offer?  What enhancements or value-adders would attract new customers?  Our world is changing fast and customers are getting used to wanting something new more frequently (think smart phones!).
10. Take A Break.  When was the last time you took a vacation?  What is the thing you keep promising your spouse or family that you will do (once the business hits a certain plateau which never seems to arrive)?  Find a way this year to do something for yourself to recharge your batteries and give just a little attention to the rest of your life, your non-business life.  Remember that one?

If some or all of these resolution ideas seem too difficult, perhaps a coach is what you need.  After all, if you seriously wanted to lose weight, you would consider a personal trainer.  How much more serious is it to you to have a successful business?  Happy New Year!