Reflect on the past year

First up on the list of new year’s resolutions for small businesses is not to look forward but to look back!

Before diving into planning for the new year, it’s essential to reflect on the previous year’s successes, challenges, and opportunities.

This will not only help you understand what worked and what didn’t but will also provide valuable insights into areas that need improvement.

If you’re planning an end of year review for your business, you need to read last month’s blog about how to plan and run an end of year review for your small business, which will tell you everything you need to know.

But if you’re keen for some quick pointers, here are my top tips:
– Set aside proper time for your end of year review so that it actually happens!
– Write an agenda of what you’ll cover and set expectations with your team, if you have one.
– Evaluate 2024’s goals to see where you’re succeeding and where things could be improved.
– Conduct a SWOT analysis to assess your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Once you’ve reflected on the past year and assessed where your small business is at, you’re ready to move onto the next of our new year’s resolutions for small businesses: starting to look ahead.

Set clear goals for the new year

Having looked back over 2024, you’ll be able to look ahead and set some new goals for the coming year.

Make sure that your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

With these quantifiable goals you’ll be able to keep track of how well your business is achieving them and even adjust things over the next year accordingly.

It’s a good idea to establish both short-term and long-term objectives to give direction to your business.

Long-term aims will give broader oversight, whilst the shorter-term objectives will break things down into more manageable chunks.

Here are my key action points to help you to set your goals for 2025:
• Write a vision statement: summarise your overall mission and vision for the business in 2025. Where would you love your business to be this time next year? Dream big!
• Financial goals: set revenue targets, profit margins, and cost-saving goals. Budget wisely and forecast your cash flow to avoid any nasty surprises.
• Customer-focused goals: how can you improve customer experience, grow your client base, or expand into new markets? What are the opportunities you’d love to capitalise on in 2025?

Setting clear goals for 2025 is one of my key new year’s resolutions for small businesses because it’ll underpin so much of what the trajectory is for you over the next 12 months.

If you’d like a hand working out some goals for your business that will keep you on track in 2025, then get in contact and we can chat it through on a free 30-minute discovery call.

Organise your workspace, both digitally and physically

The next of my new year’s resolutions for small businesses is one that’s easily put off because it’s not often the most enjoyable task, but you’ll thank yourself later if you put the time into it now: organising your workspace.

A tidy workspace and streamlined digital organisation will help you, and your team, if you have one, work more efficiently.

Decluttering your physical and digital environment is also an easy way to reduce stress and improve productivity, which you’ll be grateful for come 2025.

Here are my top tips for getting things organised before the new year:
• Declutter your workspace: clean up your physical work area, file important documents, and organise your inventory or equipment. It’ll be much easier to hit the ground running and work towards those new goals if you can return to a workspace that’s clear and organised.
• Organise your digital files: get things saved in the right places, back up important documents, and remove outdated or unnecessary files from your computer and cloud storage.
• Create a January to-do list: if there are outstanding tasks or projects that won’t be finished in 2024, keep a record of them in one place that you can come back to in the new year. This will make sure things don’t slip through the cracks and give you some direction when you’re back at your desk after Christmas.

We’re nearly there; here’s the fourth and final of my new year’s resolutions for small businesses.

Evaluate your marketing strategy

Marketing is one of the most dynamic areas of your business; a thought-through marketing strategy can drive customer engagement and be the catalyst for growth over the next year.

Perhaps you’ve never planned a marketing strategy before, in which case I would love to help you to do this and give some direction – get in contact and we can start to put together a marketing strategy to boost your business in 2025!

But if you’ve got one already, here are some pointers for assessing how your marketing plan could evolve to meet new challenges and opportunities in the new year.
• Analyse past campaigns: look back at the marketing approach you took last year. Which campaigns were successful? Which ones didn’t deliver the results you hoped for? Looking at these insights will help you to create a strategy going forward.
• Set a marketing budget: determine your budget for marketing activities in the new year. This will help you focus your efforts and decide whether to outsource some marketing strategies like social media, SEO, email marketing, and content creation.
• Create a content calendar: plan your content in advance, from blog posts to social media updates. It really is a game-changer when you have a content calendar ready in advance; it brings consistency and helps you stay ahead of the game.

Ask Zoe about setting new year’s resolutions for small businesses

Now that you know my new year’s resolutions for small businesses, it’s time to put them into action!

By taking the time to reflect, plan, and get organised for 2025, you’re setting yourself up for success in the months ahead.

If you’d like to tailor my new year’s resolutions to make them especially suited to your business, I’d love to chat to you and work out what your goals should be for next year.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call with me through my Calendly link and we can get started planning how to get your ducks in a row for 2025.

And who knows – maybe this time next year you’ll be writing your very own new year’s resolutions for small businesses!