The act of writing personal “New Year’s Resolutions” permeates everyday culture during the December January holiday season, but what about our professional ones?
Oh yes we all know it, it is oh so easy to slip into a rut in the office! Wake up every day, complete the same tasks, send the same emails, take lunch at the same time and attend the same meetings (where you probably say a version of the same thing every time)…sound familiar? Well, let’s use 2016 to make a change and gain momentum by making improvements in our businesses and / careers. As a working professional or business owner it is your responsibility to make goals or New Year’s resolutions and stick to them as well as to motivate others in the office to do the same. You may need to implement formal programs whereby you incentivize and reward staff for their contributions or ideas to keep them on the same path as you throughout the year.
Use 2016 to make meaningful goals that last! Rather than promising to eat healthier or lose weight, make the New Year’s resolution about improving your company. If you are not sure where to begin with this, then here is a list to start with;
1.GO PAPERLESS
Come on guys, its 2016! We should all be pretty much be paperless by now. We simply can’t afford to waste paper in the office. Besides the obvious concerns for our atmosphere and earths increase in the depletion of natural resources, paper costs your business money and documents should only be printed if they are absolutely essential! If necessary, make restrictions and set penalties in place for those that print too much. Whatever you need to do to get this cost and wastage down, do! Make it one of the “admin” goals for the office for 2016.
2. ANALYSE YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY
Make time to go through the marketing stats for 2015 and set goals to make 2016 even better. Analyse what worked best for the company. Whether you have in house marketers or outsource your marketing, are the efforts made by them up to date / current? Remember that marketing very often leads to direct sales and should therefore (if it isn’t already) be a key focus for your business.
3. DEVELOP A MOBILE STRATEGY
For several years, you’ve heard about mobile becoming an important focus, well if you haven’t developed a good mobile strategy yet, it’s time to stop procrastinating because it is only becoming more and more significant.
Spend some time this year developing a mobile strategy and overhauling your website, emails, social accounts, blogs and any other online content to be mobile-friendly and of course user friendly in order to connect with your audience in the way they prefer.
4. WRITE A NEW VISION STATEMENT
Your business most probably already has a vision statement that reflects how the business aims to grow and impact the world over the long term – but what about this year / what about revisiting the current one? Take time to identify strategies and goals (short and long term) that will help your business get to where it needs to be.
5. REACH A NEW DEMOGRAPHIC
All companies should allow for evolution that lets them reach a broader demographic. Over time your prospective customer base may shrink and it is therefore important to be able to reach a new demographic by adding a new product / service / new variations on the items you presently offer. Consider this for 2016 and watch your business reach new heights.
6. INCREASE PROFITS
Besides death and taxes, one of the “unescapables” in life is that costs always increase! No matter the business or industry, costs are bound to increase and it should definitely be a goal of yours to improve efficiencies, cut costs or raise prices where possible / necessary. It is vital that you find ways to boost profits so that you will have more capital to reinvest in order for your business to grow in the future.
Contact PATC if you would like us to assist with your budgeting / investment advice, accounting or taxes in the next year.