New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! It’s now January — that time of year when many people are fully committed to their New Year’s resolutions of eating healthy, working out and saving more. But New Year’s resolutions don’t need to be limited to our personal lives. Right now — the beginning of a new year and decade — is a great time to create meaningful New Year’s resolutions for your business as well.

This Forbes article gives some great examples of New Year’s resolutions that will set your business up for success. To summarize:

1. Get more balance in your life. Your health — physical and mental — is important to the success of your business. Make an effort to invest in your health by delegating more and spreading the workload. 
2. Revisit your business plan. Every business should have a business plan. If you don’t, or yours is out of date, spend some time putting one together. Consider your short-term, medium-term and long-term goals and be specific about the necessary steps to get there.
3.  Protect yourself against cyber attackers. Cyber attacks can happen to all businesses, no matter what size. Review your current cyber security and establish safeguards to protect your business. 
4. Find out how to make your customers even happier. Invest in your existing customers. Research shows that it is 25 times more expensive to win a new customer than it is to obtain new business from existing customers. 
5. Prioritize productivity. How can you improve your business’s productivity? Consider updating out-of-date processes or investing in new technology.
6. Give your business a financial health check. Take a hard look at your financials. How can your business improve? Make an effort to identify and resolve potential issues. As an example, find ways to collect on your accounts receivable faster.
7. Be prepared to invest for the future. Make an effort to invest in your business. Failure to do so could limit future opportunities for growth. 

The start of 2020 is a great time to set New Year’s resolutions for your personal life and your business. And whatever specific resolutions you choose to set, make sure they are specific, measurable and achievable. This will help ensure you don’t give up on these resolutions in February. You want these resolutions to set you and your business up for prosperity in 2020!