How to plan for a successful new year for your business in 2014

The New Year is the perfect time to take a step back and reconsider your direction for the next few months. Rather than being overwhelmed with all the things you need to do, schedule in some time for reflection. It will streamline your business and make the things you do more effective.

Part One: Plan For The Year You Want

Step 1. Decide What You Want It To Look Like
Before making any decisions about next year, it is time to decide what you want it to look like! Take a moment to ask yourself:

What do you want to accomplish next year? Where do you see your business in terms of products, services, customers and revenue? Take a moment to dream and write them down.

Step 2. Identify what is working.
Looking through your current activities, identify those areas that are going well for your business. List all of your projects and/or clients. Which ones bring in the most money? Which ones do you enjoy doing the most? Which ones fuel your motivation for the tasks ahead? What type of projects do you wish you had more of?

Step 3. Identify what is not working
Look at what you have been doing that is not working for you and remove it from your schedule for next year. What clients brought you the least money? Which projects drain your energy and make you not want to continue? If you could dump two aspects of your current workload, which ones would they be?

There are plenty of ways to move further away from the things that demotivate you and closer towards the things that excite you. Outsource, downsize or employ someone else… each year you should get closer to doing those things you really want.

How Will You Generate New Business

Now that you’ve established the type of new business you want to bring in it’s time to look at how you’re going to do that. What channels are you currently using? Which channels could you be using more of or making better use of? Here we outline some of the areas you want to think through:

Step 4. Website Improvement
Does your website design really do your business justice or does it still look like a start up? Did you build it yourself? If you want to progress your business to the next level you will need to take your marketing with you. Consider upgrading your website.

Step 5. Don’t Forget Mobile
It’s not just mobile websites you must make sure you have for 2014; it’s the entire mobile marketing package. Mobile advertising and consumer data collection are just two of the ways mobiles are changing the way we operate in the business world. How can your business reach the mobile market?

Step 6. Put Effort Into Social
While much of the hype around social media has died down, it is still one of the most powerful tools for getting your message out there and communicating with your customers. Social media sites, especially Facebook, have become particularly adept at the online advertising and search engine functions which will have far reaching impact on businesses as they increase in popularity. Ensure you are one of the early adopters by getting involved in 2014.

What plans are you making for 2014? Tell us below!