As the year winds down, business owners are probably their busiest right now with the holiday season and all the orders coming in, but during all the busyness and chaos, it’s important that you take some time to think about the future.
Too often, business owners focus too much on the present and stay busy doing the things they need to be doing, but they never end up getting where they want to be or achieving the goals they have . . . and the reason for that is because they’re not taking the time to sit down and create these plans. So today, I want to give you three things to think about that will help you create a solid 2023 plan so you can start the year strong!
How Was Your 2022 (Previous Year)?
The first thing you want to do is reflect back on 2022 (or your previous year if you’re reading this in the future) and ask yourself some important questions, like:
Did I achieve the goals I set for my business?
Why or why not?
What did I do really well this year?
What are 1-2 areas I can improve in?
Do I feel like 2022 was better than 2021?
If you’re going to make plans about where you want to go, then you’re first going to need to evaluate the past. The most important thing to remember when you’re doing this evaluation is to BE HONEST . . . even if things didn’t go according to plan, it’s not a time to get down on yourself, because if you do an honest evaluation, there’s going to be plenty to learn.
The goal isn’t perfection as a business owner but rather that each year you’re getting a little bit better and achieving more success. Owning your own business is a marathon, not a sprint, so you want to make sure that you’re honing in on the things you do well and doubling down on them, just as you want to highlight areas you can do better in and make strides to do it.
Where Would You Like To Be At The End Of 2023?
After you evaluate how your 2022 went, you want to ask yourself the all-important question: where do I want to be sitting a year from now when I’m evaluating my 2023 in business?
If you don’t have an idea and a plan of where you want to be in 2023, then the results that you get in your business are going to continue to look the same as they always have. Being successful in business is as much about planning as it is about the actions that you’re taking.
Think about it: a lot of people and business owners work really hard, but they never seem to get to where they want to go . . . why is that? I believe one of the key reasons is that they don’t take the time to create a solid blueprint ahead of time detailing what they want to accomplish and where they want to go.
How Are You Going To Bridge The Gap?
Now that you’ve evaluated where you’re at in your business right now as well as where you’d like to be by the end of 2023, it’s time to finally put it all together and ask yourself the most important question of all:
What are the plan and the action steps I’m going to take in order to get from point A to point B?
If you want to achieve success this upcoming year then you need to make a plan on how you’re going to do it. Let’s say, for example, you want to double your revenue from 2022-2023 . . . you should then ask yourself what are some action steps you can take to make that a reality.
Here are some examples:
Run ads through social media
Collaborate with other business owners
Reach out to influencers to work with
Start a blog then drive traffic to your products
Reach out to stores to have your products sold
These are just a few examples, but you get the idea. Once you know what you’re trying to achieve, it allows you to come up with ideas on how to get there. You then want to narrow it down to the 1-3 things you want to focus on (because you can’t do it all), then take massive action on making those things happen.
Conclusion
If you create a plan, and most importantly, you follow through on those steps, then next December you’ll be looking back at your 2023 with fondness and be able to take pride in the fact that you did the work necessary in order for you to move your business forward!