Top 3 New Year’s Resolutions For SMEs

Top 3 New Year’s Resolutions For SMEs

14 January 2019

The start of a new year is here! Whilst many of you will be trying to pick up where you left off before the Christmas and New Year period, for SME owners and managers it’s also really important to take stock of the past year and formulate a plan for the coming 12 months.

If you’re ever going to get your business to where you want it to be, you have to evaluate your performance on a regular basis, and the start of the year is the perfect time to do just that. Ask yourself what you did well last year, what could you improve upon, what in your business is working and what needs tweaking or reworking. Asking the tough questions and coming up with honest answers is the only way to move forward.

To help you out with this process we’ve come up with a list of our top 3 New Year’s resolutions for SMEs. Make sure you check them out if you’re looking for ways to help make 2019 your best year yet.

Be Proactive

Being proactive is one of the most powerful things that SME owners can do. By making a resolution to be proactive rather than reactive, you’ll be putting yourself in a far better position to handle any challenges that arise and make the most of any opportunities you encounter.

This is especially relevant when it comes to your accounting and finances. Don’t just treat ‘doing the books’ as an annoying nuisance - instead look at it as an opportunity to really understand your business and take things to the next level. Unlocking the meaning behind the numbers can reveal amazing insights that can help you reach your business goals, so it pays to be engaged and switched on.

Try shifting your mindset from one of compliance to one of creation. Instead of keeping on top of your figures because “it’s just something that has to be done”, try looking at it as a way of creating new opportunities for growth.

If this sounds a bit daunting or you simply don’t have the time to do this yourself, you can be proactive by engaging some form of business advisory service to assist you.

Update Your Business Strategy

In a recent blog post we discussed the fact that to be truly effective, a business strategy needs to be reviewed every 12 months. Set aside some time early in the year to identify which parts of your strategy are working and which parts require adjusting.

Ideally you will have been tracking your performance against the objectives, goals and KPIs set out in your strategy, so it’s important that you use these to properly assess how effective the activities of the past 12 months have been.

You’ll also need to take stock of any important events that may have affected your industry over the past year and make predictions for the year ahead. It’s often said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, so the only way to get your business to where you want it to be is to do things differently and update your strategy.

Set Some Clear Goals

Goal setting is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s a way of making sure that everything is on track and your business is heading in the right direction. Without clear goals, it’s easy to become distracted, stray off track and make bad business decisions.

Secondly, goals are vital for maintaining motivation and team cohesion. As an SME, your people are likely to be your most valuable asset, so it’s vital that everyone is on the same page and is motivated to work together towards achieving success.

These goals must be reasonable and attainable. Setting the bar too high will only serve to discourage people when they fall short. Timing is also important. Set some goals to achieve by the end of the current financial year and others to achieve by the end of the calendar year. This will help to motivate your staff throughout the year and allow for celebrations and rewards when these targets are met.

We know that making New Year’s resolutions is easy but sticking to them is the hard part. Much like going to the gym or giving up chocolate, seeing them through can get harder and harder as the year goes on. At AR Advisors, our business advisory service can help you stay disciplined and on track to have an absolutely cracking 2019 as a successful SME. Get in touch with us today to find out more.

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If you would like to speak to someone from our team about how we can help you or your business, fill out the form below, or give us a call today (08) 9321 3362.