Let me start by stating that you don’t need to wait till the end of a financial year, calendar year or any other ‘end’ to look at what you are doing in your business and change it to something different or better.
That being said, dates like June 30th, December 31st or March 31st (depending on where you are) can prompt as a reminder to take stock of your business and re-align where it’s going.
Firstly, check to see if you are happy with how the business has performed the past 12 months. Are you pleased with the results? If not, what are you not happy with that you could have done better, given different resources? If your business has grown and you are happy with its performance (taking into account the issues below), then it’s a matter of keep doing what you’re doing.
If you are not 100% happy with the results thus far (lets face it, most people think that something could have been done better or differently), find out how you have been perceived by your customer. This means asking for feedback. You may think that things weren’t great, but what did your customer think? The information you can get from your customers can help with your next 12 months.
Did you set a budget for the past 12 months? If so, did you perform well against your expectations? Where did you fall short? Were your expectations too high? Were there unforseen factors that impacted on the results? Did you set the bar too low? Checking your dollars is not the only measure of success in a business (see the first point), but it goes to checking the financial viability of the business now and in the future.
What do you want to achieve in the next 12 months? What types of business, customers and opportunities do you want to experience? If it’s as simple as “I want to grow my business”, you’re got to know by how much or have a rough idea of the target you’re aiming for. Otherwise, how will you know if you have reached it? Your targets may be financial, cultural, or ideological – it’s important that you know what you want to achieve before you work hard at getting there.
Lastly, how are you going to do it? Employ more staff, sub-contract, buy another business, create new business, or conduct a joint venture? There are so many different ways you can create the outcome you want. It’s a matter of picking a way that you believe will work.
Two important final points:
- This process is fun. It takes the impossible and crazy ideas you dream of and helps you figure out a way to make it a reality for you
- You can change the plan! If the ideas you set for yourself now are not working for you in 3-4 months, change it. Go through this process again.
If you have any ideas you want to share, please feel free to list them below.
