Preparing for 2014 – New Year, New Beginnings

As 2013 nears its close, it’s a good time to plan out your small business goals & resolutions for the year ahead.  At The UPS Store, we are a network of 360+ small business owners and we have tips to help you ramp up for business success for the upcoming New Year.

Set Some New Year’s Resolutions:

We all set personal resolutions, but the New Year is also the perfect time for goal-setting for your small business. Take a moment to reflect on your small business activities of the past year. Consider how you can implement positive business focus, or habits, into those activities.  Make your resolutions realistic so there is a greater chance you will stick to them throughout the year. Start small, and be specific.  While “I resolve to be more organized” is a good resolution, a more specific resolution within the same focus could be “I will keep my in-box (virtual or actual) organized in the following way…” Similarly,  “I resolve to grow my business” is also good, but a more specific resolution could be “I resolve to make 10 cold calls per week”.

Re-Visit Your Business Plan:

Related to goal-setting, your business plan is a living document that should be reviewed and updated often. How long has it been since you re-visited yours? If “recently” wasn’t your answer, this is a great time of year to dust it off and review it again.

Planning out your year on paper creates a crystal-clear map of how you will achieve small business success.  Adjust for the current market conditions.  Investigate opportunities for new customers.  Re-jig your 2014 marketing plan.  And, most importantly, clearly set out the goals you want to achieve over the next year.  Your business goal statements should be quantifiable (ex. To increase sales by 10% by June 2014) and include a means for how you are going to achieve that goal (by concentrating sales efforts on a new target market in Q2 2014).  Be sure to check in with your 2014 business plan often to make sure you are on track to achieve your objectives this year.

Unclutter:

The New Year is a great time to get organized – and set yourself up to stay organized. Get your office in order.  Now is the time to pitch or file old documents.  Stock up on office supplies especially those that will keep you organized and inspired to build your small business!  A new start requires a clean slate, after all….

Tip:  When it comes to determining how best to dispose of documents, always consider the information on the document itself.  Any documents that contain key information about yourself personally or about your business should be shredded. Doing a major de-clutter? Professional and secure shredding services are available at The UPS Store near you for those larger volume jobs.

Plan to make 2014 the year you go BIG with your small business!  Organization and preparedness are the keys to keeping you on track to succeed.