3 New Year’s Resolutions For Small Business Owners

It’s nearly the end of the year, and 2018 is right around the corner. While the new year still seems to far away, you might already be imagining how much better your business will be in 2018 – better organized, better connect with customers and more profitable. Having an optimistic mindset is important, but it’s not enough to last you through the first month of the new year. To really see a dramatic shift in your business next year, you need to set clear goals and outline the steps it will take to see them through to completion.

Resolution #1 – Hire one new employee or freelancer.
If you’re currently a very small business with less than 5 employees, and you’re not struggling to find enough customers to keep busy, you’ll benefit from hiring an extra set of hands to help with marketing outreach, accounting, or fulfilling orders. If your business does not have the capital to hire someone new, you can find a freelancer who can work as little as a few hours per month. Consider the most time consuming aspect of running your business. If it’s one of your personal weak points, hiring someone to work on it for just one hour could save you days that you could be using to work on something else.

Resolution #2 – Thank your best customers.
You may have a few loyal customers that have been doing business for you for at least a few years. These are your most valuable customers, and you should show them you appreciate them to help make sure they continue to work with you. A small gift basket, or even a trinket with your logo on it, keeps you at top of mind. If possible, spend a good amount of money on a quality customer appreciation gift – if your customer is valuable to you, spending the money will be worthwhile.

Resolution #3 – Upgrade your business tech.
Many of us steer away from technology that we feel is going to take months to set up and learn how to use – not to mention, it might be expensive. But the truth is, you may be wasting time and money by doing things the “Old School” way. Stop using spreadsheets to manage your transactions – use a cloud-based accounting software like Wave or Freshbooks, which automatically record and categorize your credit card and bank transactions

Also, if you have dozens of leads, customer contact information and other data stored in spreadsheets, consider using a customer relationship management software like Zoho or Constant Contact. Customers feel valued when you don’t have to ask for their address over and over again, and when you remember key points about their needs. You can also set up your software to automatically contact people so you don’t forget about them months down the road – everyone is busy, so if you don’t follow up, you’re losing business.