7 New Year’s resolutions to help grow your business

The end of the year is a splendid time to ponder on your business's progress over the past year and plan how you want it to grow in the year ahead. Whatever your business goals or resolutions are this coming year, make sure that you give yourself the best chance at achieving them by making them specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Setting such goals will prevent you from giving up on your New Year’s resolutions and help achieve your goals to become even more prosperous in the coming year.

Below we have listed 7 New Year’s resolutions to help grow your business.

1. Delegate more and aid team growth

As a business owner it is equally important to get the most work done, focus on growing your business and building your team in the coming year. Business owners tend to micro manage every task on their plate as they have a high level of ownership. While concentrating on these tasks it is very easy to lose focus on the larger picture. Use task management tools to track these small tasks and learn to delegate some of them to your team members. Delegation not only helps in letting you focus on other areas of your business but also helps build confidence in your team and a trust factor. This is one resolution that will also be great for you in attaining a great work-life balance. 

2. Enhance online presence

Even though your business might have an online presence via your website, nowadays you can’t get the attention of anyone browsing through your website. You need to start offering them facilities like availing your goods or services online, online payments and promotions. Also, if you want to attract new customers, just having a website is not enough, work on building your presence through online advertisements, search engine optimization and targeted promotions. One of your top New Year's resolutions should be to hire a marketing expert or take the time to create a marketing plan via online tools on your own and follow through.

3. Give back and help the community

You ought to make a difference in your community by helping or aiding the ones in need of support especially since we have been hit by a global pandemic. Giving back to the society from which you have profited in the past is how you can help people around you grow. Those who give, get. Nothing will seed and grow benevolence for you and your business better than giving back to your community. So, make one of your key New Year's resolutions to find a cause that matters to you and help in any way you can.

4. Increase productivity

Many business owners just do not have enough hours in the day to complete all their work. It is important to understand that increasing productivity does not mean you have to work harder. It means that you need to work smarter. Using productivity tools to organize and schedule your tasks will help you find that extra hour in the day to work on more important things. Tedious processes like invoicing, social media scheduling, email marketing, tracking and nurturing leads can all be automated which free up the time of your team and yourself to focus and work at achieving a larger goal.

5. Keep learning

Learning something new will add to your skills and add another dimension to your life which is another significant part of attaining a healthy work-life balance and growing your business success. Depending on how you choose to learn, you may meet new and interesting people, who may become customers, colleagues, or friends. Whether you’re learning a new digital language, getting familiar with a business networking site or even reading an interesting book will help you become more well-rounded and knowledgeable. What you choose to learn may be directly associated or completely not associated to your business but will help you become a better entrepreneur.

6. Communicate and engage with your team

This resolution will aid you to focus on becoming a better communicator in your business. As the owner of a small business, one ought to look to develop two-way communication with all employees. Be in continuous touch with them and talk to them habitually. This will not only help you better understand their skill sets and track their performance but will also allow you to keep your finger on the pulse of your business. A review about their work or conversation about their hobbies and interests will encourage them. This small deed will make them feel that they are an imperative part of the work family.

7. Improve customer service

Providing outstanding customer service is essential to any successful business. While your customer service may already be great, it’s important that you continue to work on ways to improve so that you can keep your customers happy for years to come. With the pandemic we have to adapt our customer success strategies. Most businesses in recent years have begun using tools such as chatbots, IVR and email campaigns to sustain the requirement of 24/7 customer service. If your business is yet to do this, moving forward from 2020 implementing this would be a good decision for improving and maintaining good customer service. With a killer customer service experience, you are setting up your business for success. Better sales, repeat customers, strong relationships, distinguished brand reputation, and excellent reviews. 

Keeping up with these resolutions is definitely a tedious task and requires discipline. When it comes to our professional lives and careers, only some individuals can follow and succeed in the goals that they have set for themselves or their businesses. It is of utmost importance to make realistic goals and resolutions so that achieving them also seems real and doable. Attaining this discipline is like sustaining a good relationship, you have to keep working on it. However, if you adopt these New Year's resolutions throughout the year, you will not only be a better entrepreneur but you will have added energy to put into your business and help it succeed even further.