The coming of the new year always seems to me to be a natural time to take a moment, step back and look at my business and what lies ahead for the next 12 months. It gives me a chance to look back at this most recent year and how I fared in my business compared to what I thought would happen 12 months ago, and lets me look ahead to what I can do differently to achieve my goals this year based on what may have changed in terms of my competition, new opportunities or challenges, or the marketplace or economy overall.
The new year always brings with it a sense of renewal, and for many, triggers a set of promises of things they'll do differently this year. The stereotype, of course, is that such "resolutions" never last very long, and so are normally pledged to with a large anticipation of falling short anyway.
So, I don't want any of you to set any "resolutions" for your business for this new year, lest they suffer the same fate as the personal resolutions many people make and soon break.
Instead, what you should use the new year for is a chance to revisit your strategy and plans for your business. Look around at what might be different this coming year from last. Will your position in your market still be the same? Will it be challenged by new competitors? Can you identify skill sets that, if you could hire them, would help launch your business to the next level? Will your customers change the way they buy?
As I have undertaken this exercise for Vista Enterprises, my financial-controller-for-hire and income tax prep business that is my "main" business, I have identified the need to grow and expand my clientele even further in 2009, and most importantly to do it more proactively than the traditional "wait for the phone to ring from client referrals" method that has been the driver of my still-fulfilling business growth for the previous 14 years.
I have had a look at "expansion" through a few different lenses, and have chosen a few strategies to pursue. One is through actively working on expanding one specific segment of my income tax business, and for the first time in my business, I will be placing ads in a few targeted places over the coming months, seeking to gain many new clients within this one market. To me, this is a bit of an "internal" expansion, where I am being active to tap further and more aggressively into a market I already have a little bit of a presence in, and within my existing geographic reach.
The other view of "expansion" that I have had is more "external", in looking to broaden the geographic reach of my financial controller/bookkeeping services, well beyond my city and hopefully across several provinces. Again, this will take far more proactive and aggressive actions on my part than what I have done in my business in the past in obtaining new/more clients. So, I am excited by the challenges of both of these different attempts at "expansion", and will be sure to keep you all posted as to their results.
In the meantime, I hope that you all take this time to revisit and review your own plans for your businesses for the next 12 months, and wish each of you a successful and fulfilling 2009!!
No comments:
Post a Comment