New Year, New Business: 5 new year resolutions for small and medium business owners

For most business owners, the beginning of a new year offers them a chance to evaluate the past year and set up new year resolutions for their business. Between emerging different variants of the Coronavirus, crowded marketplace, and the ever-fluctuating economy, every business owner has one priority – to make 2022 better than 2021. You might not have had a successful year in 2021 or met some or most of the goals you set for your business, but now is the perfect time to get right back on track and plan for a better business year.

New year resolutions are simply what they mean, a promise a person makes to continue good practices, accomplish a goal, or improve their life at the start of the year. When creating a list of new year’s resolutions for your business success, the sky is the limit, and there is an endless list of new things to do. But we’ll focus on the most important, realistic, and easily achievable ones to scale your business. Here are five of them:

Organise your business processes

A business owner wears multiple hats, and the success of your business depends on your ability to wear those hats. In a day, you could be the CEO, accountant, social media manager or customer care representative. Amidst these roles, there’s a need to create a balance, else, you would find your business running you instead of you running the business. If having a productive business year tops your new year resolutions, start by organising your business. Being organised allows you to manage your business effectively and efficiently without feeling overwhelmed.

Here are a few things to keep your business organised:

• Respond to emails as soon as they arrive
• Tidy up your desk before and after work. Also, declutter your workspace.
• Use automation tools more
• Write a to-do list for the next day and stick to it
• Keep track of time
• Virtualise your customer service

Keep a daily track of your expenses

Tracking your business expenses is a big part of your business and it’s more important than you think. Here’s why:

• It helps you understand your cash flow easily
• t will help you work within your budget
• Helps you become financially aware and improves your money management
• It plays a critical role in profitability and prevents you from making guesses abut your profits
• It will help you reduce your taxable income
• When you need financing, it can help you demonstrate to lenders that you are a trusted borrower and your business is fiscally responsible

If managing your cash flow and maximising tax deductions are part of your new year’s resolutions for your business in 2022, it is important to track your business expenses.
Below are some common expenses you need to track:

• Payroll expenses
• Advertising fees
• Office supplies
• Subscriptions and dues
• Taxes
• Software
• Consulting fees
• Utilities
• Bank fees

You can easily track your expenses with these apps: FreshBooks, Expensify, SAP Concur Expense, Wally, QuickBooks Accounting, Certify, etc.

Delegate more

Delegation is often an impossible task for most business owners. And it’s understandable because they invest lots of effort, time and resources into their business to let go of duties to their employees. But then studies show that business owners who don’t delegate often suffer from burnout and ‘decision fatigue’. According to Small Business Trends, 20% of businesses fail in their first year. But business owners with delegation skills have a higher chance of overcoming those odds.
Make delegation a priority in your new year resolutions. You would achieve so much as a business owner if you can delegate duties and responsibilities to your employees. You can’t do it all – neither can you do it better than everyone else.

Update your marketing plan

A solid marketing plan does not have to be changed, it only needs to be updated periodically. Look at your marketing plan. What worked well last year? What didn’t work? What could have worked? New trends and technologies crop up all the time, meaning, you should, at intervals, go through your marketing plan, tweak it so that it’s able to survive the next phase of your business.

With an updated marketing plan, you’ll be able to prioritise what works best for your business, identify specific areas for improvement and stand a chance to achieve your new year resolutions for your business.

Network more

In business, networking is an effective tool to form relationships with people in related fields or companies to expand your business or to do business with in the future. It is the act of maintaining a contact list you can use for your business benefit. A key element in networking is to be visible – the more people you meet, the more people get to know you and your business. Networking helps you identify and access opportunities you might not find on your own, provides possibilities for business advancement, identifies new business practices and it’s a great way to gain new business leads.

The scale exclusive circle is a great community to network. There, you will find entrepreneurs who are ready to walk your entrepreneurial journey with you, ensuring your business grows to become a successful one.

Do you have a brilliant business idea for the new year, but are clueless about how to get started? Enrol for JumpStart 101 to help you prepare your business idea for growth and gain the confidence and assurance needed to develop and validate your business idea.

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Feature image: istockphoto