At this time of year, a little end-of-year business preparation can really make the season bright.
Part 1 of our two-part series is a short-and-sweet checklist for end-of-year planning. It outlines the steps you need to take for end-of-year planning, and even includes the best tools that will make it easy.
If you spend just an hour or two on this list each day between now and New Year's Eve, you can go back to enjoying the holidays with a clear conscience.
Review This Year’s Accounting Records
You won’t know how to reach your goals if you don’t know where you are now.
Taking some time to go over this year’s records will assure you that you have a solid financial system in place. Make sure you fully understand your tax commitment, as well as how much you have to spend. This will make it much easier to plan for 2016’s purchasing, hiring and expanding.
Set Your Personal Income Goal
Many small business owners essentially work for free because they aren’t pulling money out for themselves as income.
That’s why it’s important to set a personal income goal, then create a plan for your business that helps you accomplish that goal.
Building Your Overall Business Plan
This part will take the most time. Fortunately, it’s also the most fun.
The key to creating a plan that you can stick to is keeping it as simple as possible. How simple? How about answering just three questions?
- Which offerings are making your business the most money?
- Which offerings are making your business the least money?
- How can you reduce or stop selling the least-effective offerings so you can devote more time to the offerings that are making you the most money?
Answer these three questions and you’ll have a plan for the entire upcoming year.
The Tools for Success
We’re always looking for the most efficient, organized way to accomplish our professional goals.
Along the way, we’ve collected a list of our favorite tools for making business easier and more effective:
- Accounting: Xero
- Safely Storing Documents: Hubdoc
- Financial Plan: Profit First
- Project Management: Teamwork
- Customer Management: Infusionsoft by Keap
The Bottom Line
Believe us, nothing kills a holiday buzz like waking up on January 2 and realizing you don’t have a business plan for 2016.
Don’t leave planning as an afterthought. Give yourself an early Christmas gift and make planning a priority!
Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect when you start. Amy Porterfield says it best: “Pursue simple, get fancy later.” Just like any new year’s resolution, the important thing is to get the process started. You have a whole year to work out the details and make your business better every day in 2016.
