Women Entrepreneurs: Boost Your Business – 10 New Year’s Resolutions!
The New Year offers a clean slate and a time to reflect on the changes you want or need to improve your business. Take time to look at the successes and failures in your life over the past year. Have you considered what changes you want to implement for 2012? Here are 10 resolutions to boost your business for the New Year!
Resolution 1: Take control of your taxes
With the New Year fast approaching, it’s important to have a firm grip on your taxes. To claim certain tax benefits, you must act no later than December 31. According to the IRS, these are “Six Year-End Tips to Cut Taxes for 2011.”:”
- Install energy efficient home improvements
- Make charitable contributions
- Consider a portfolio adjustment
- Contribute the Maximum to Retirement Accounts
- Make a qualified charitable distribution
- Don’t overlook the small business health care tax credit
Resolution 2: understand your finances
This is extremely important to the health of your business. As a new or growing business, you need to be diligent about your finances. Tea NUMBER ONE The reason businesses fail is due to a lack of control over finances.
Some experts suggest reviewing your profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports on a monthly basis. To manage this, there is accounting software like QuickBooks specifically for small businesses. Also, hiring a CPA or bookkeeper can be a good investment.
Resolution 3: Create a monthly budget
This is crucial to control your monthly expenses. By creating a budget, it forces you to examine your income and expenses to keep track of how much money you earn and spend. Of course, your living expenses, i.e. mortgage, utilities, vehicles, insurance payments, and food are a must, but additional payments must be allocated to pay off bad debts.
Some useful financial tools:
- HomeBudget is an expense tracker designed to help you budget, track, and control your monthly household expenses.
- Moneytrackin is a free online web application that allows you to track all your expenses and income easily and effortlessly, giving you a clear view of your financial situation. It is intended to be a simple yet powerful online budget management tool.
- MySpendingPlan is an online tool that provides consumers with the latest tools to help them manage their personal finances, keep track of their budgets, save money, and stay up-to-date with the latest information on managing money and living a better life. financial.
Resolution 4: Get out of debt
Easy to say hard to do! According to some experts, Americans earn more than a trillion dollars a year with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. For many, money is a great source of stress; And it doesn’t help that we’ve had to deal with financial problems in recent years. Next year, make it a priority to solve your money problems.
Resolution 5: Set Specific Time Management Goals
Why do you want to set specific goals to manage your time effectively? Well, setting simple goals will force you to plan your time wisely, allowing you to gain a sense of accomplishment and reduce work and personal stress. For example, if spending time with your family is important, try to work fewer hours on Fridays to help you meet that goal.
By scheduling your time around your goals, you can assess whether your goals truly align with core values, both professionally and personally. If you find that your goals are not aligned, then you can identify key areas that need to be adjusted before they get out of hand.
Resolution 6: learn to delegate
As your business grows, so should your control over every aspect of it. The worst thing you can do is become a slave to your business. This attitude can paralyze you! I know firsthand; as a former owner of a building maintenance company; I’ve been a President, HR Generalist, Payroll Specialist, Trainer, Janitor, Salesperson and more! It took me a while to realize that not only could I not wear all the hats effectively, but in order to grow and regain my sanity, I had to rely on others.
it is important that you delegate secondary business tasks to your staff or consider outsourcing them. Play to the strengths of others. Lack of delegation will stifle your growth, or worse, cause yourself and your business to fall into a ditch.
Resolution7: Prioritize your day
It’s critical that you start your day with a to-do list. It doesn’t matter if your business is small or you run a large corporation, having a daily plan will keep you on track to effectively run your business. Start your day by scheduling uninterrupted time to plan and create your to-do list for the day, and rank your list in order of priority. For example, if you have 10 tasks on your list, how many do you need to complete? Can you save the less important tasks for another time?
If you don’t get everything on your ‘to do’ list, it doesn’t mean you have trouble managing your time. It just means that you only have a limited amount of time per day to get everything done and you may be trying to get more tasks done than you have in the day.
To manage and prioritize my time, I rely on Microsoft Outlook’s calendar and task manager to plan my personal and business schedules. Then I sync Microsoft Outlook with my iPhone. This helps me stay on task and prioritize my daily activities. Find what works for you and make it a daily habit for a productive and organized day!
Revolution 8: Network religiously
One successful way to promote your business is through networking. You’re in business to grow, so make networking a key part of your marketing strategy so you’re positioned to connect with the right people.
Networking is a lifestyle that should be added to your “to do” list. By networking, you are developing your social skills by participating or interacting in an informal meeting to reach out to others for mutual assistance or support. By getting acquainted with other businessmen or executives, you are building meaningful relationships. There are many organizations you can get involved with, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Business Network International (BNI), online communities, or a professional organization related to your industry.
Resolution 9: Know your Credit
Do you know how important it is to establish a business credit profile? According to some industry experts, “Less than 10 percent of all business owners actually know or understand how business credit is established and tracked, and how it affects their lives and businesses.“
Be sure to contact the major commercial credit reporting agencies that collect and provide copies of your credit reports. For a list of business credit reporting agencies, here is an informative article by Marco Carbajo, “Top 10 Business Credit Bureaus.”
Resolution 10: Spend more time with family and friends
An important reason we do business is the idea of being flexible with our time. So the idea of having time for family and friends seems like a no-brainer, right? According to recent surveys by the General Nutrition Centers, Quicken and others, more than 50% of Americans vow to cherish loved ones and spend more time with family and friends this year.
You have control over your time, so make sure you balance work and life so you can spend it with those who are important to you.
Last but not least…
If it doesn’t work, drop it quickly.
Don’t waste time or spend unnecessary energy taking care of something that isn’t working for your business. Time = Money and in our current economic crisis, both are a precious commodity that a small business cannot afford to gamble with. Keep going and don’t look back!
By incorporating these simple yet effective strategies, you can position your business for significant growth. Here looks to a great 2012!