Make 2014 an Amazing Year for Business

It’s a brand new year and now is the time to do some contemplating on the things you’d like to accomplish with your business in the coming months ahead. Remember, without a roadmap it’s unlikely you’ll get to where you’d like to be. I’m sure you’ll get somewhere, but is that enough?

I thought I’d compile a short list post of ten items we can all incorporate into our daily lives that can help out with the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

30 Extra minutes adds up

1. As entrepreneurs we live a certain lifestyle (or aspire to) that allows us to work when we like. I challenge you however to set an alarm clock so that you don’t miss out on making the most of each and every hour in your workday. Getting up even 30 minutes earlier each day will add close to twenty-three 8 hour days with which to spend on growth projects for your business.

Morning Rituals and habits

2. Develop a morning routine or ritual that gets you into a healthy and productive state each morning. Some go for runs, some meditate, while others might have ritual affirmations they say to themselves to get them motivated each day. Whatever you use, make sure it empowers you.

Often how you start the day is a good indicator of how your day will progress.

Yearly – Monthly Goals – Daily “tasks”

3. As a business owner I don’t have to remind you of the importance of goals, and certainly not on a day like today. Make sure you are aligning your daily tasks or “to do” lists with your monthly goals, which of course are aligned with your larger and more impressive annual goals. This will serve to keep you on track and allow you to adjust course if you find yourself straying from what you’ve determined is important.

Creating Value

4. Make creating value a portion of every single work day. It’s not enough to market yourself or your product in order to grow. You’re also going to have to continue to innovate those products and services to ensure your clients are receiving the maximum value from doing business with you. Remember Money is nothing more than a means to measure that value of exchange between two people.

Measuring & Managing

5. You can’t manage what you don’t measure! Make sure you spend a few minutes each day on the KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) for your business to ensure they are trending in the proper direction. If they aren’t and are slipping develop a quick action plan that you can follow up on to bring them up. If that action doesn’t transform into a positive outcome simply try another until those numbers are moving in the right direction.

Continuing Education

6. Many online markets change drastically in the online world, make sure you’re investing time into your own development as well as your product or companies. See what competitors are doing, take a course, or simply read a book to stay current within your industry. Education is often overlooked once an entrepreneur reaches a certain point, but the truth is learning is something you need to do on a continuous basis to stay fresh and on top of your game.

Don’t Fear Failure

7. Failure is nothing more than a result of something you’ve tried. The key is to fail fast, and move on to the next attempt. It’s not realistic to expect to do things perfectly first try around (ever tried golf?) and who would want to anyway. Each failure is nothing more than a stepping stone to success, but often we let failure dictate our mood and can even cause some to give up altogether. Failure is necessary don’t fear it.

Test Everything

8. Test and tweak each and every aspect of your business that matters. A small increase in conversions can mean the difference between a good year, and an amazing one. The gap between a good result and a great one often isn’t that big of one. A great athlete earning millions each year may only practice 10% harder than the ones earning much less, but the difference is he’s willing to keep at it to refine his shots or improve his accuracy each practice.

You are not alone

9. As entrepreneurs, and more especially those who work online we can get into the mindset that we are alone in our business. Don’t make that mistake; it takes a team of people to build a business even if you are a “solopreneur” or one man show. Reach out to those individuals you can help, or who you can leverage to help you.

Executive Weekly Meetings

10. Finally remember to see your business in both lights – as an employee who works in your business, and an employer to works on it. A good idea at the end of each week is to hold an executive meeting where you go over the actions you took throughout the week and the results of those actions. You can set goals for the upcoming week and determine what outcomes are most important to the growth and development of your business.

Finally one last piece of advice for heading into this New Year – Try and get leverage on your business. Find tools that can automate processes, and develop systems for processes you continually encounter. It’s amazing how much time and effort can be eliminated simply by using the right tool for the job. As a writer you might find that it takes an hour to get a decent post or article written, but perhaps by investing in a tool like Dragon Naturally Speaking you can do it in half the time.

Just because you’ve always done something a certain way, doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it that way!

All the best in 2014!

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/strategy/make-2014-amazing-year-business-0728371?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=make-2014-amazing-year-business