Ah the end of the year…!
It brings with it mixed emotions for many.
Sometimes we can get excited about the coming year and what’s in store for us.
Sometimes it’s a time to reflect on what didn’t go right.
Let’s face it, when you are doing your year end reports, sometimes they don’t look as great as you had hoped.
Maybe you didn’t make as much money as you had expected.
Maybe your expenses got out of control, and your profit is down.
Maybe you worked really hard and are now in a position to need help but overwhelmed about how to do that.
There are lots of emotions at play.
I like to break this whole activity down into what I call a lookback process.
It’s exactly what it sounds like – look back at what you did. Pretty simple to do, but there is still a strategy to doing it right, and being able to use the information you look at!
By assessing what has taken place in the last year (or quarter, or month, whatever works for you), you can make better decisions on how to move forward.
Here is an easy little exercise that is part of my process:
1. How many new clients did you bring on last year?
2. Break it down by month. Is there a time of year that you brought in more than others?
3. Where did they come from? What were the steps you took to sign them (did you do networking? marketing? were they referrals?)
4. Do you like all of the clients you are working with? What is good/bad about each? What would you change if you could?
5. What is the value of each client to your business? (how much do they spend?)
If you are like me, and you work with the same clients each month (ie regular ongoing clients instead of project clients), then this exercise is usually pretty easy.
For a couple of years running, I had a core group of 13 clients. So doing this exercise was not terribly challenging!
But what it helps you to do is identify the opportunities you have before you. It’s what you do with the answers to those questions that helps your business grow.
If you used a strategy to get certain clients and it worked well, you should plan to do more of that.
If you don’t like working with all of your clients, then you should plan to replace them with better clients.
If you love certain clients, you should either plan to do more with them, or find others like them.
Analysis of what we are doing in our business often gets lost in the day to day running of things. Doing client work, doing our own admin work. Who has time to add new networking or marketing into the mix, right? I hear ya!
But in order for your business to grow – or for you to grow as a business owner, it’s essential to make sure that you are working with people you love to work with, and doing things you love to do.
The only way to consistently make sure of that is to have a look at this stuff regularly.
I suggest annually now because it’s the end of the year, but if you can look at things like this quarterly, you can make shifts in your business all year long.
If you want to learn my Lookback Process, join me for this free training session Thursday, December 28th at 12 pm (noon) Eastern: Your Year in Review.
I’ll teach you my process so you can do more review exercises like the one above, and have a much clearer idea of what you do to make 2018 a great year!
If you already know what you need to do but paralyzed by what your next step needs to be, book your complimentary Cut to the Chase call here: www.yourvamentor.com/15-min.