The end of the current year – and therefore the starting of a new year – is a great time for not only personal reflection and planning, but also for business reflection and planning. And, one of the important things that I reflect on, and plan for, is achieving business success. Of course, when most people hear the phrase “business success,” they think of piles of money, yachts, vacation homes, etc. – and to some, that is the main success they seek from their business. There is nothing wrong with that vision, I promise!
However, for others, success is more than just money. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is tough to continue to be in business if you don’t make more money than you spend before too long. However, for many of us, large amounts of money is not the only success we seek. The success we may seek is control, or flexibility, or helping the world, or a combination of all of them. The thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter what you are seeking, the key is to have it defined for the year, then evaluate at the end of each year on how successful you were compared to your definition, and then determine what needs to be done to make next year successful. Below are a couple of quick tips:
1) Know your personal success factors first, because they should shape your business success factors. For example, if you (and your significant other) want more flexibility, starting/growing a bricks-and-mortar business, or looking to book large numbers of jobs well in advance, probably wouldn’t fit the bill. Instead, maybe market yourself as having the ability to take last-minute jobs and/or look for a way to increase your prices so you can make the same amount of money with fewer jobs.
2) Once you have your personal and business success factors determined, write business goals that fit. For example, if your personal and business success factors include more time for family, yet the business needs to be making the same or more money, your goals should represent that – and your plan might include ways to upsell the clients that you do get and/or streamline systems and processes to reduce the amount of time you spend on each client.
Our personal success factors are a mixture of income, flexibility, and impact. Did we achieve success last year? Well, partially. Are we working on business goals and plans that achieve success this year? You bet!!!
I look forward to hearing what your personal and business success factors are, and your 2017 goals. Come hang out in my Facebook group (“The Elevator: Moving Our Businesses Up Together”) to share!
