We’re pretty much in the home stretch now. Holiday shopping, parties galore and trying to finish up the year with a track record of success while at the same time planning for 2015.
But wait…you are doing 2015 planning, right? While we all know the slate is not wiped entirely clean when we turn the page on the calendar, we know that we feel a sense of optimism. After all what lies ahead is a new year complete with new opportunities and possibilities.
It’s easy to stay with the status quo but here are ten things that you should be doing to grow your business in 2015. Start now!
It’s always a good idea to take the “temperature” of your company at the end of the year and do a SWOT analysis to make certain that you are headed in the right direction. Looking at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats enables you to assess “what is” so that you can more easily move to “what could be.”
2. Strategic and proactive networking should be part of your 2015 growth plan but before you potentially waste time and money on the myriad of networking groups and events that are in your marketplace, do your due diligence so that you can use your time wisely.
3. During the economic downturn many companies pulled back on their marketing initiatives. This is the time to evaluate the myriad of marketing options that are available to you and develop a comprehensive marketing plan that can help you to increase your visibility and market share in 2015.
4. Outsource any work that keeps you from executing mission-critical tasks. Bookkeeping, administrative work, website maintenance and more are all things that can easily be outsourced leaving you more free time to attend to growth oriented, higher level initiatives.
5. Review your human resources and hire or replace staff as necessary. Most companies cut staff during the economic recession and had their employees’ multi-task and wear multiple hats. These same firms haven’t added new employees and this is the time to think about what more you could accomplish if you had additional internal resources.
6. Take a good look at your product and service offerings and decide if you want to make any changes such as eliminating a product or service that isn’t doing well or adding some new products to make you more competitive and better penetrate the market.
7. Does your office environment support your growth plans for 2015? For instance can the office space in which you now work accommodate any new hires? Are you working out of a home office and find that conducting meetings in Starbucks is undermining the professional image that you are hoping to convey? (Champion Office Suites has the solution for that!)
8. It’s important to stay current and updated on skills necessary to run and grow your business. Whether the training is for yourself or an employee consider what skills need to be enhanced to keep your company current. (The training can cover just about any topic such as social media, finance, leadership and more.)
9. Would having a coach help you to gain clarity and focus on what needs to be done in 2015? Many “C” level executives find that having a coach is a tremendous asset in helping them run their businesses and attain better work-life balance as well.
10. Get healthy. Consider 2015 the year to be in the best shape ever by paying attention to nutrition, sleep and exercise. You can’t be at the top of your business game if you subsist on 3 hours of sleep per night and grab a bag of chips to stave off hunger. Growing a business is hard work and you need to be in optimum health to be up to the challenge.
So there you have it. Just a “few” things to start right now and to continue doing throughout the year. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to have a happy and healthy holiday season too.
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