New Year’s Necessity: Checklist for Your Business

We’ve put together a printable checklist (New Years Checklist PDF (1) for the New Year’s Resolutions for your business. (Click and print!) We want you to have all of the tools that you need to succeed and this should be your first step for the new year. Print this off, grab the red pen, and get to planning! We recommend you read this once over in it’s entirety and then print the worksheet.

Write in the margins!

PLANNING:

• Monthly promotions (i.e. If it’s February, what are your Valentine’s Day specials? Get out the calendar and check for holidays–even obscure ones–so you don’t miss any opportunities!) There is one included in your printable pdf. And HERE is a handy website with ALL the holidays listed for you.

1. January
2. February
3. March
4. April
5. May
6. June
7. July
8. August
9. September
10. October
11. November
12. December

 

• Goals list (I would like to accomplish “x, y, z by this date) Keep it realistic!

 

• Networking (plan for monthly meetings or visits to local businesses, charities, volunteering opportunities)

 

• Financials (if you have an employee who will need a raise or a faulty piece of equipment, now is the time to set your budget to be able to afford that in a reasonable amount of time.)

 

• REST

Analyze

 

ANALYZE

• What products/services aren’t selling? Time to re-evaluate.

 

• What products/services are selling extremely well? How can you expand on/promote those more effectively?

 

• How do your employees work as a team? 

 

• Is your website accessible, legible, and functional? (Go through each page right now!)

 

• Is your brand consistent and cohesive? (Make sure all pages and social media have the same “voice”.)

 

• Is your social media relevant? 

 

• Do you have any equipment that is out of date?

 

• Is there any equipment that you need?

 

• REVIEW: What are your strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities, and Competition?

1. Strengths
2. Weaknesses
3. Opportunities
4. Competition

PERSONNEL: 

 

• Do you have any shining stars on your team?

 

1. Is there any incentive for them to continue doing well?

 

1. Is there a reward system in place?

 

• Do you have any employees that require coaching?

 

1. Develop a coaching strategy.

 

1. Set a date for when you hope to see change.

 

1. If you do not see changes, have a disciplinary plan set in place.

 

• How does your team work together?

 

• Plan a team building event once a quarter.

COMPETITION:

 

• Write out your 3 biggest competitors below:

 

• How are you setting yourself apart from your competition?

 

• How are you communicating those differences with your audience?

COMMUNITY OUTREACH:

 

• How are you networking?

 

• Are you part of any business networking groups?

 

• Do you participate in charity functions?

 

• Do you volunteer your time?

 

• Set a specific amount of time each week/month for networking and/or charity to help grow your business and get qualified referrals.

EDUCATION:

 

• Find a seminar on business in your area.

 

• Set aside time each week for continuing education (such as podcasts, youtube videos, online courses, etc.) to learn more about running your business.

 

FINANCIALS:

 

• Think about your overhead. Were you able to profit last year with your current overhead?

 

• Staffing. Are you over or under staffed? 

 

• Hours. Would you benefit from being open an extra day a week? Or by cutting morning hours, etc. Look through your statements to see when you do the most business.

 

• Is there any equipment that might be on its last legs? Start pricing out pieces and set a budget to afford them quickly as possible. It would be better to have a separate emergency account that you filter money into each month so if there is an emergency, you have a “rainy day fund”.

 

• Evaluate your relationship with your banker.

BE THANKFUL:

 

• Practice gratitude.

 

• Thank your staff for their hard work.

 

• Celebrate! Even the small victories.

 

We hope that this checklist gives you some ideas, lets you set the path for the new year, and helps you achieve all of your goals with mindfulness and confidence! If you’re uncertain about how to answer some of these questions or implement some of these strategies, contact Metro Nova Creative for some business consultation. We’ve got you.

You GO GLENN COCO!