In those final days of December with the excited anticipation of a fresh New Year just around the corner what better time for reflection and renewed focus that will set your business up for exceptional results in 2024.
Today You'll Learn:
1. Why reflecting on the past year is crucial for the success for your business and its growth next year.
2. What the key areas are to keep track on within your business.
3. What questions you should be asking yourself when looking back over the past year.
4. How to construct a concise Bespoke Business Plan unique to your business for the following year.
First things first, set aside the time! Give yourself a couple of hours or even an entire day to complete the process, I promise the time will be well spent. If excuses come too easily, make an adventure of it, brew your favourite beverage, light a scented candle and tuck yourself away within a cosy corner of your home. If distractions pose a problem take yourself off to your favourite coffee shop or hotel lobby to allow you to work in peace. If you really want to make it something extra special book yourself a spa break or working getaway. The more you look forward to the process of completing your end of your review the more dedicated you will be to its success.
So, lets dive in to my exact process for constructing your End-of -Year Business Review and Bespoke Business Plan.
STAGE 1. Analyse Past Years Performance.
Phase: Figures
Gather your data as the figures never lie. Reviewing your stats from the previous year will give you an unbiased overview of how your business is doing.
The data you’ll need to collect will be determined by the type of business you’re running but a great starting point is to look at your:
· Gross income for the year
· Expenses for the year
· Profit
· Number of orders over each of your selling platforms
· Number of units sold
· Your Hero Products – the years top 5 best sellers
· Number of customers
· Number of Trade or Wholesale Customers
· Average customer spend
· Countries you currently serve
· Number of email subscribers
· Website visitor numbers
· Number of social media followers
· New product launches
· Advertising and marketing costs for the year.
· Number of shows and events attended
Phase: Reflect
Next comes reflection of the past year, your chance to really delve into the ‘Why’ behind the figures. Here you set an allocated time for free flow writing where you write continuously for the allotted amount of time, letting your writing flow without worrying about spelling, sentence structure or handwriting, just pen to paper and keep writing.
This creative style of writing allows your brain to take over without consciousness, a type of automatic writing that allows you to get your thoughts and emotions out on paper without barriers.
If you find prompts more helpful you may like to answer the following questions:
What worked well this year?
What did not work so well this year?
What customer feedback and reviews have I received this year?
What drained me / what brought joy?
What slowed the progress of the business this year?
Were there any external factors that effected the business or myself personally this year? I.e. economic shifts or global events.
What about the previous year would I have done differently?
What is my proudest moment of the year?
What would I love to stop / start doing?
What was my biggest lesson from the year?
Phase: Review
If you conducted an End-of-Year Business Review last year now is the time to go through your Bespoke Business Plan and the goals you set throughout the year. For each goal, ask yourself: Did I meet this goal? Why/Why not?
STAGE 2. Create Your Bespoke Business Plan
This stage is about taking all your reflections and using them to define your goals for the upcoming year together with actionable steps you can take to achieve them.
It’s a good idea to map out your Bespoke Business Plan for the entire year so you have an overall vision for your business then focus on a more detailed in-depth action plan for the first quarter. This allows for flexibility and gives you time to make necessary amendments as and when life happens.
As the year progresses check back in with your plan each quarter and re-focus your goals as the months pass.
Your Bespoke Business Plan is entirely your creation, unleash your creativity and include in it the detail you find most valuable to your business. As a guile here are some of the sections included within my own plan:
Main Focus for the year. (Whether its to launch your own website, gain enough income to invest in a piece of equipment to scale up your business or expand your customer base by attending shows and events). I like to have a main focus for the year, a goal which takes priority.
Bespoke Business Plan Goals for the year ahead (the income you want to earn, how you want to see your business grow – social media followers. How you want to grow your Brand etc.). Be clear and precise with your goals include specifics like data and a timeline so its clear to determine if the goal has been achieved.
Mini Goals these smaller goals have your Main Focus and Plan Goals at their heart and compound together to make them possible. (For example, if attending craft fairs is a priority for you this year, setting a goal to ensure you have sufficient stock will help you work towards your Main Focus).
Personal Commitments next, comes the habits and activities you’ll adopt each day and week in order to move you forward towards your Goals (an example may be how many social media posts you’ll commit to each week in order to make your Bespoke Business Plan goal of growing your social media presence possible).
Data To Track make a note of what key figures you want to record each week to give you an insight on where you are in relation to your goal or timeline.
Key Dates & Events for the year. (For example, your projected website launch date, do you plan to launch a new product seasonally, deadlines you need to meet, craft fairs you wish to attend. Don’t forget to include personal dates such as birthdays, anniversaries, family commitments and holiday dates).
Business Vision a creative space for new ideas, inspiration, mind maps and sketches.
STAGE 3. Making Your Plan A Reality
Now you have your Bespoke Business Plan in place how do you make your goals a reality? Keeping your plan tucked away in a desk draw won’t magically bring your vision to life. Here are my top tips for ensuring the success of your new vision.
Regular Check-Ins: The path to completing your ultimate Vision is not always a straightforward one. Twists, turns and unexpected events can all be encountered along the way. Schedule periodic reviews – weekly or monthly – to evaluate your progress against your goals. Put these in your calendar to maintain your enthusiasm, and keep you moving forward, remember you have flexibility on your side, adjust your Bespoke Business Plan accordingly and commit to doing at least one thing every day that will move you closer towards your goal and you’ll be amazed what you can achieve.
Surround Yourself With The Best People: Those who support your success wholeheartedly.
Invest In Yourself: Are there additional skills you could benefit from to help you attain a particular goal? Investment in your personal development is always worth the time and money spent.
Remember Your Why: Why do we do what we do as creative entrepreneurs? For all of us there will be a different answer, perhaps to allow us the flexibly to raise our young children, or to finally turn our passion into a source of income? Whatever the reason for starting your business your Why is your own deep down personal motivation.
Keep Your Plan Visible: I use a daily planner for my business and keep my Bespoke Business Plan inside printed on brightly coloured paper which triggers me to remember my goals even when I see a hint of the paper sticking out the top.
Make It Visual: Add another layer to your Bespoke Business Plan by creating a visual representation of your goals, a check sheet, custom desktop wallpaper or vision board.
Make It Fun: Through all the hard work, focus, and hours of dedication to your business remember to reward yourself. It’s a great accomplishment each goal you achieve, mark those successes and you’ll be motivated to keep going with your Bespoke Business Plan.
And there we have it - my comprehensive guide to conducting an End-of-Year Review for your small business and how to use your Bespoke Business Plan to move your business forward with purpose clarity and passion.
Comment below with your biggest take away from today or share a goal for the coming year and here’s to 2024 being our best year in business yet.
Are you ready to make 2024 your most successful year yet? Subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to hear when my next blog post is live where I’ll be sharing my secret weapon when manifesting my ultimate vision.
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