Do you set resolutions for the New Year?
January is the perfect time to plan for the coming year and set new goals whether you want to grow your business or take more time for yourself.
Having goals can help to keep you moving forward.
Take time to review what you achieved last ye
did you achieve your income goal
launch the new services that you planned
what worked well and what areas do you need to improve in
What would you like to accomplish?
Working out what your business goals should be for the coming year can be hard if you don’t know what to focus on.
You will no doubt want there to be an overall money goal to increase the bottom-line. However, having smaller goals that you can tick off to work towards the big goal can contribute to the future success and efficiency of your business.
It may be
- 5 new customers per month
- a smoother onboarding process for new clients
- a more streamlined invoice system or more newsletter subscribers
- taking on a VA or member of staff
Perhaps the goals are more personal
- not working on Fridays
- less evening work
- more free weekends
Getting specific will help create a plan for the next 12 months.
Breaking each smaller goal into more bitesize tasks, will help you feel a sense of achievement and motivate you to continue – every small win is a stepping stone to the annual goal.
Keeping Track
Old School
Writing down your goals, and the smaller tasks to reach them can make them more tangible and give more focus to reach them.
If you like to tick off tasks, it could be a simple notebook for handwritten notes. Or for greater structure, a business journal with prompts and a calendar to prompt you with questions and weekly, monthly and quarterly targets.
There are lots of them available, usually A5 size – add some coloured pens and highlighters to chart your wins.
Online Tools
If you prefer to use an online tool, a Project Management tool that incorporates task tracking can help you keep on track. A good project management software includes task allocation and scheduling and you can use it for goal setting and planning.
With kanban side-by-side view or a list view, you can set them to work in the best way for you.
Again, there are lots of different ones available, so get clear on what you need it to do.
- integration with existing software
- simplicity for just you to use, so you can easily keep it up to date.
- collaboration with a growing team so that they can contribute and complete tasks.
Options include Trello, Asana, Monday with free trials to see how they work.
Making Progress
To track whether you are moving forward and keeping on target to meet the goals you have set, you need to do regular reviews. Without evaluating your progress, how do you know whether you are prioritising the right areas?
Have a weekly review of the small tasks – perhaps set yourself 3 small wins for every week.
Schedule a monthly check-in to keep track of your progress.
After each quarter assess your progress, see if you’re on target and maybe you will need to adjust your plans for the next quarter.
Reward the Wins
Making New Year’s resolutions is one thing, achieving them by the end of the year is another.
So if your resolve starts fading, remember why you started the process and focus on the end picture.
Plan a reward for yourself for each of the targets you achieve, whether it’s a Friday cupcake, a month-end glass of fizz or a new desk at the end of the year.
Time for Action
Congratulations on the last year’s successes, and here’s to the new year ahead!
We would love to be a part of your journey in the new year. A Virtual Assistant can likely help with many of the tasks on your plan.
From supplying new skills, taking on some of the repetitive jobs or taking on some of the more strategic tasks an hour of work a day can free up your time to focus on networking, sales, or business development.
If you are interested in exploring what a virtual assistant can do for your business, get in touch for a chat.
We’d love to help you figure out what to outsource so that you have more time and energy in 2024.