Making the most of a merry Christmas
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- 18 Dec 2013
Making the most of a merry Christmas
Christmas is coming and for many small business owners, this means a well-earned rest at the end of the year, with chance to take stock of the past 12 months and plan for those to come. Here are a few suggested tips on how to go about it and some tech tools to help.
Give thanks!
Small business owners rarely take the time to congratulate themselves on how far the business has come. Treat yourself a little this Christmas by thinking through highlights of the year and thank those who have contributed to this success by sending a Christmas note recognizing their contribution or inviting them to join you for drinks/entertainment. You could use MOO or Eventbrite for event invitations or send a festive note using email systems such as Constant Contact or Mailchimp.
If you can, treat key team members to a Christmas gift, buying from online marketplaces filled with entrepreneurial businesses such as Notonthehighstreet, Etsy or Folksy.com or enjoy a good old knees-up together! It’s good to end the year on a high note.
Space to think
As the Christmas break kicks in try and find some space and time to review and revisit the past 12 months. Ask yourself some questions:
- what worked well and not so well?
- Which aspects of the business are delivering the greatest return?
- Do you have the right team members/ freelancers/ subcontractors in place, working on the right tasks?
- Did the year present any opportunities you hadn’t planned for and that could be expanded on in the next 12 months?
Make notes with tools such as Evernote or Trello which is like a Pinterest for your tasks and ideas.
This reflection time will help prepare your mind for phase three, which is all about pro-active planning.
Plan
With thanks offered and reflections made, it’s time to plan for your most successful year yet! To get you started, you may want to think about:
- What financial targets you would like to meet
- Where you want your business to be featured
- Any new markets in which you’d like to expand
- Roles and responsibilities for your team and partner network
If you can, find a place in which to plan that offers a big backdrop to open up your mind. Maybe looking out over a big ocean or lake or even out of a train window; somewhere that offers a scene to inspire your creative mind.
Once compiled, share these plans with the team using project management software, something like Basecamp is very useful, allowing you to track progress throughout the year ahead.
On Christmas day, turn those tech devices and tools into ones that will capture happy family moments. After all, even small business owners are allowed one day off!
Emma Jones is founder of small business network Enterprise Nation.