You’ve worked hard to build your small business, and you work hard every day to reach the goals you’re after. I love the passion and the tenacity you bring to your small business. And I love even more to see my small business peeps reach for their goals and plan for their futures! Because let’s get real — good things don’t just walk in small business’s door. Now more than ever, it’s important to have a plan. Make the time for your small business’ future, and you’ll be glad you did.
Today, I want to talk about looking back at your business in 2016.
I know what you’re thinking, my small business friend: Wait. Hold on a real quick minute (because I have a million things to do in these 24 hours today). Why should I spend my time looking back on 2016 when I’ll move ahead to 2017 no matter what?
Why should you take the time to review your small business?
You have goals. Even if they’re not written down anywhere (psst, they should be!), your small business is working toward something. Block out an hour or two this week, and look at your all-around business in 2016.
Ask yourself questions like:
- How did we do overall?
- How did our performance compare to our goals?
- What have our customers been saying? Do our customers know about us?
- Has our products and/or services been serving them?
- Have the business decisions we’ve made aligned with our mission? Our vision? Our values?
- Have we struggled anywhere?
- What was the return on our marketing investment?
- Do our materials reflect our brand? Does our brand reflect our mission?
- What did we run out of time to do in 2016? What are our business priorities? Why?
When you ask yourself these questions — and figure out the answers — you’ll be able to create solutions, which you can put in place and positively influence your business in 2017. Maybe you need to change a business strategy or ramp up your marketing efforts. Maybe you need to reevaluate who your primary audience is that your small business serves or rebrand your small business to better appeal to your current audience.
You won’t know what you should do until you look at how you did do the past year.
Want help? Give me a call, and I can be the objective eye to your small business performance this past year and not only give you insights but give you recommendations to realize success in 2017.
