STOP! Collaborate and listen, Soley is back with my brand new invention…

Okay, not brand new buuuuut it’s pretty helpful to all of the small business owners out there and if you aren’t cringed out by me using Vanilla Ice lyrics yet - Gen-Z are you still here? - then bookmark this page. It’s one your going to want to come back to.

If you are a long time reader, you will have seen my post on a Monthly Reset for Small Business Owners but when it comes to December, and we all have a little extra time on our hands I think it’s great to stop and reset your business. This is the time of year I like to take a step back, wash-up the previous year, take a look at where I have come and then look at where I want to go next.

Still here? Good, now I know you’re dedicated let’s begin….

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THE END OF YEAR AUDIT

Review

Start the process by reviewing last year. Have a review of the areas of your business, goals/KPIs and personal growth. Give yourself time to reflect on your achievements and an opportunity to plan your growth from things that haven’t served you well.

Learnings - Start, Stop, Continue

• What has gone really well this year?Check through your monthly reviews if you do them and record your best and worst months. Try to identify why that was the case for each. This might give you some tips about what to continue to do next year and what hasn’t worked.Pro Tip: look at the ‘worst’ month with kindness! You’ve smashed this year! If every month was the same we wouldn’t be progressing, so there HAS to be the ‘worst’ month. It’s a privilege to have a ‘worst’ month :) What can you learn from it to make next years worst month, a little better?

• Is there anything you’ve done this year that you would like to stop?Whether it’s a service you no longer want to offer, or perhaps a rebalancing work and life (me!) try to find an action that means you can phase out the things that don’t help you!

• Is there an area of your business you’d really like to start?Whether that is a course, new marketing strategy or social media channel. What is going to move the dial? Is there a clear gap that needs plugging? Note those down as part of your new goals.

Goals

• Have you reached your previous year’s goals? Check each goal and give some thought to its status. Mark it as complete, in progress or missed. If complete, are you satisfied with the completion? Are you ready to build further upon it? if it’s in progress, what’s the timeline? If it’s been missed, does it still serve a purpose? Do you need to discard it, or develop upon it? How can you get it done this year? Pro tip: if it didn’t get done this year, work out how you can change it into more manageable pieces to ensure it’s done asap!

• Have you made any big or small wins in your business?

• Have you pivoted away from your original goals? If so, why?

Now, the following is how I do things, but it’s not for everyone. Write down an ambitious financial target for the year. As a freelancer, it’s difficult to set a target in place, especially when you are newly set up. In year one, you might want to reach a certain salary you had working in-house. In year two, maybe you feel confident in going for a double value, or adding a third…maybe its breaking six figures…or seven!

Got it? Scared yet? Good! A bit of nerve will get you motivated and hungry to make it happen.

Next, write three sub-goals based on your insights, that will get you to your financial goal.

Finally, list the tactics of how you plan to reach these goals. Do this in three columns if it helps. This will automatically create you a to-do list for the year, and then all you need to do is dedicate time to fulfil each tactic in your schedule.

New revenue goal

To get there I will:

• launch passive revenue stream

• up to my branding + update website

• CREATE A DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR PAST CUSTOMERS TO RE-ENGAGE THEM

Example tactics:

• Set-up an area on my website for the passive revenue stream

• Create marketing plan for passive revenue

• Find a graphic designer (me!) to redesign the branding

• Move website over to Squarespace (I can help with this too!)

• Hire a VA to help me reach out to previous clients with a new offer

• Set-up mailing list to segment clients and created targetted emails

etc…etc…etc…

Clear

When I have a clear space, I feel more able to be efficient. I like to be in control of my day-to-day, and having a clean, tidy space really helps me to be productive.

Physical

• Tidy or organise your workspace

• File paperwork - log expenses and receipts!

• Clear that ‘in’ tray

Digital

• Sort through your downloads folder and delete or file everything

• Do the same with your desktop!

• Check your apps - delete any that you don’t use.

• File emails into folders so they are easy to trace back - you can even set up rules to do this!

• Unsubscribe from email campaigns that you never signed up to, or that no longer align with your vibe.

Measure

Catch up and review the year’s metrics to compare the start and end of the year. This might change some of your goals - its ok to tweak these until this whole process is done!

Product/Services

• What have been your best and worst sellers? Can you identify why - was there a campaign for one product, or a promotion on a service? Make notes on ways to maintain the best seller and bring up the worst.

Marketing

• Review marketing campaigns and their return on investment (ROI). Are they worthwhile? Are there any you need to dial up or dial down this year.

• What other marketing could you try this year? Think about your ideal audience and the goals you have in mind. Look at ways to engage them in their daily life without being annoying! Be helpful and show your worth!

Finances

• Have a look through the billed and outstanding balances on your accounts, are there any payments that need chasing? Do you have any big outgoing for the coming month? If you do, how is cash flow?

Plan

Finally, plan your next year using your goals and tactics as a guide. Create e monthly to-do list or physically block out your diary with tass each month in advance. I prefer the latter as it makes me get things done on time…I tend to avoid a lengthy to-do list in favour of bite-sized tasks!

Meetings

• Book time in your diary for any meetings that you might need for the coming year. If you can send out invitations and Zoom links, or initial emails in January! You could even write them now and schedule them in.

Social

• Plan the content areas that are going to be most important in the coming months. These should be based on your tactics, supporting any new launches and marketing strategies.

• Block out time to create content, or hire someone to help.

To Do’s

• Look at your previous to-do list, and get rid of anything that is no longer relevant.

• Update your to-do list with manageable tasks that help you reach the bigger goal - or simply add them to your calendar, as before.

Future

• Looking forward over the next 6 months is there anything you need to start planning for or actioning now? Remember commissioning others to support your business can take some time, so factor in your launch date and work backwards to check.

• See if you can plot out your cash flow for the months ahead, in order to be able to foresee any issues before they arise!

• Plot in the next time you will do a reset! I do mine both weekly, monthly and annually.

If this has been helpful, be sure to share with another business owner because #CooperationOverCompetition right? Or tag them in my post on Instagram

Until next year!

L

xo