| Running a business takes hard work, constant motivation and love. A lot of love! Trust me I have 3 and the pandemic saw myself and the team at CLS working harder than ever. You see success isn’t just waving a magic wand and things “just happen”; it takes planning, strategy, adapting when things don’t work and being proactive and knowing exactly what your competitors are up to.”Ease up tiger” or “relax, we’ve just had Christmas” are probably some of the things you are saying to yourself now, or maybe there were a few expletives in there and I get it- everyone’s tired. This pandemic continues to throw changes or restrictions to us on the daily and knowing what and how to control things is HARD!! We get it. It’s hard to be excited about the new year ahead when so much is still the fucking same!! The best advice I can share with you, which helps me with my OCD (genuine diagnosis btw) is to take control of the things I can and make them my bitch (so to speak). My task and to do lists brings me great comfort in an uncertain world and here’s what I do every January before I even lift a finger on client work and I suggest you should consider doing to: |
| 1. Reflect on your last 12 months and tie up any loose ends – Track your revenue for the last 12 months, see what months you did well, why that happened and how can you do that again? – What sucked, what mistakes did you make and what can you learn from them? – Is there anything outstanding from the last year? – Are there invoices to chase up? – Have projects concluded or are there any conversations you need to have? – Action all that stuff hanging around over DONE AND DUSTED! Having closure can be awesome for your mindset and mentality. Also bask in those WOW moments! There might have been shit moments last year, but there were surely some awesome ones too. Celebrate them, remember them, give yourself a high 5! |
| 2. Clean up your Inbox/ Desktop/ Database/ Downloaded Items It’s time to do that digital de-clutter. – Sift thru all those images saved to your downloads folder, clean up your desktop, archive and file those docs and put things where they belong. – Dreaming of a tropical island getaway or trip to Disney for your birthday? Pop that goal on as your desktop background and be reminded every time you sign in what it is you are working for. – Go thru your inbox, file or delete anything you no longer need. – Set up those folders you’ve been needing to ASAP. – No longer working with a client? Archive their comms and delete that folder so they are no longer creeping into your space or triggering you when you see their name. – Send an “update of your business details” email campaign to your whole database and remove anyone that bounces back. – Also check in with your suppliers and providers to see you’ve the right contact details at a company. – Opt out of emails from companies that are not relevant for your business now. – Review your database categories or tags and ensure you have people receiving the correct information.Update contacts where you can and think about more segmented messaging/emails this year. |
| 3. Audit my website and socials. – This one should be pretty self explanatory,however check everything from top to toe to ensure: – Remove any festive/ holiday trading hours – Ensure that your current offerings, packages, products and pricing is correct. *This is a great time to increase pricing too, so ensure online assets reflect that. – Change your profile picture, get some new head shots or use a different colour of your logo on socials. – People will pay attention to this and might be enough for them to revisit your other assets too. – Check all links on your website work These mostly static sites over get overlooked when we are busy, so now is the perfect time for a little digital audit. CBF? We can do it for you! Just get in touch. |
| 4. Map out the next 3 months This might be hard given everything going on in the cosmos but having a plan or even a wish list means you’ve something to work towards AND you can always move the goal posts down the track. – What are the key items that you to focus on? Marketing, staff training, new products. – Check the trends of the market and see how you can fit into the new world. – Want to be on a podcast or be featured in a magazine? – Look at our 12 month calendar and see what days of the year are ahead of you, that you can create some promotional or marketing offers about. – Want to take some time off? Then what do you need to make that $$ or so you can set your out of office. Start planning now. – Would your business survive another lock down? COVID proof your brand, offering and products NOW not when it happens again! |
| 5. Level Up and undertake some further training and development – Is there a gap in your business you are looking to fill, wish you were better at spreadsheets? Have no idea what you should be doing when it comes to email marketing? Or maybe you just want to learn to plan! Now is the perfect time to invest in some further training or development for you or your staff – Search YouTube and see if what you’re wanting to learn is offered for FREE.Sign up to a course or class.Book in that trainer for your team.Remember to get in touch with what you love. Buy those paints, that guitar, enroll in to those Spanish classes! – Do that thing and keeps your brain motivated and happy. |
| Also look at habit stacking, outsourcing the task you don’t love and checking things off a list! Seriously, how good is it when you mark things done. That little dopamine hit of achievement. If you don’t know where to star, have a team member working for you and your want a little of my insider tips, knowledge and magic for just $1 a day, then invest in my 365 marketing and business checklist! It’s flying out the door. If you want to slay the new year away and want to chat about business strategy, planning or anything I mentioned above drop me a message and lets chat!! |