Prepare Your Business for the New Year

As we wind down and prepare to celebrate the holiday season, it's important to take some time to get things in order for the new year. I always take time to reflect on my activities over the past year and assess my activities for the new year.

Sometimes, we start businesses and get so caught up in doing business, that we forget about handling business. Or, it could be that we don't know how to handle business. If you didn't know... there's work to be done "behind the scenes".

Running a business is hard work. Not only should you be out in the marketplace selling your products or services, but you should have certain things in place to ensure that your business is effective and profitable.

I, along with many other business owners have learned some important business lessons that we'd like to share with you. I share some lessons in a previous article: 5 Lessons I Learned when I Started my First Business.

Precious Brown, Founder of Power-N-You , Lead Author of the book, Transition: Create the Life You Desire, offers the following tips on preparing your business for the new year:

Decide what product/service you will master for the new year and dominate your market with it, before moving on to something new.

GET A BUSINESS PLAN! It is your road map to success.

Create a profit and loss sheet to track your income and expenses.

Create a budget and stick to it.

Get help when you need it instead of wasting time trying to figure it our yourself. Time is money.

Get organized with back end systems.

Stop quitting. See the project/plan through to the end.

Celebrate small wins.

I encourage you to take a day off from the celebrations to assess your business. Find out where and how you can make the appropriate adjustments. Where can you go for help? What resources do you need? Are you reaching the right people with your product or service? These are very important questions to ask yourself during this time.

Be honest about it. That's the only way to grow. Celebrate yourself for having taken the leap into entrepreneurship. Don't get down on yourself if everything didn't go as planned. You're doing what most people only dream of doing.

Assess your situation, make the necessary adjustments, and get ready to experience a great year in business. I'm looking forward to your success!

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