Posts Tagged ‘small business owner’

Here’s a continuation of my previous post.

1) Prepare New Year’s cards for your clients and vendors. Include a personal thank-you note.

2) Clean out your office: books, papers, files. Recycle what you can.

3) Clean out your soft files:first back up on to an external drive, then go through all your files and delete.

4) Do a technology check: cell phone or PDA, desk top, laptop, etc. Determine if you need to do any upgrades or purchase any new equipment.

5) Put a date on the calendar the week of January 11th for 2010 planning.

Year-End Checklist #1

With two weeks left in the year, most of us are busy splitting our time between holiday preparations and our businesses. Here are 5 things you can do between now and December 31st to help your business.

1) Determine your marketing investment for 2010, or at least for the first quarter.

2) Figure out where you’ll spend those dollars. (Do a marketing plan.)

3) Run your financial reports and decide where you can cut expenses in 2010.

4) Take a look at every sinble point of contact you have with your clients/customers. Make each one of them “simply the best.” (Your voice mail greeting, email signature and font, business cards, any printed marketing materials.)

5) Call your accountant and have a tax-planning conversation if you haven’t done so already.

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

                                        The Cheshire Cat
                                               Alice in Wonderland

Do you know where you’re going?  Do you have a clear vision for your business – and your life?

As business owners, we’ve always been told we need a plan, and I agree.  We do need a plan.  But there’s one thing you must do before your fingers hit the keyboard to create your plan.  You must figure out where you want to go, the target you want to reach. 

Here’s why:

If you go into your garage, get in your car, back out of the driveway, and don’t know where you’re going, what

would happen? What if you didn’t know if you wanted to go to Miami or Malibu?  You could end up in the middle of nowhere. You must have a destination.

What would happen if you went to the ticket counter in Grand Central Station and asked “Can I have a ticket?”  The ticket agent will ask where you want to go.

It’s plain and simple: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”  …and you may end up someplace you don’t want to be.

According to Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the second habit of successful people is to “begin with the end in mind.”  In other words, start with a clear understanding of your ultimate destination. 

So the very first step in planning for your business and your life, isn’t creating the plan. Step number one is to create your vision, your “big picture” of what you want your business and your life to look like. 

Your future vision should be in writing.  If you have the picture in your mind, you’ll find it will become even clearer when you put it in writing.  If you don’t have a vision at all, there’s no better time than the present to create one.