We’ve all made New Year’s resolutions – personal or business – in early January with the best of intentions only to have them forgotten come February. However, there is a way to create resolutions that stick, setting you up on the path to success for the year ahead.

The start of your business planning process: 
Creating your rocks, pebbles and sand mix

The start of the year is a great time to review your business plan and make strategic changes to your goals. A crucial part of this is finding the right mix of goals and actions to create a nourishing environment for your business to grow. 

Here at McNamara and Company, we describe this as finding your ideal growth mix. By creating the right mix of rocks (annual goals), pebbles (90-day or short-term goals) and sand (actions), you can achieve more in the year ahead.

If we start with actions and focus on being too tactical, we get weighed down with the day-to-day and won’t be able to achieve as many short and long-term goals. They also won’t be working together with your goals, but rather be quite separate. 

However, if we work on all elements together - breaking down our annual goals into what 90-day goals we need to get there and what actions we need to get there - we’ll be able to fit more in. 

How to create smarter goals for the year ahead

Another key to goal setting is making sure they are SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound.

Specific

If your goal is too generic it’s hard to define what actions you need to achieve them and what success looks like. Creating specific goals will help define what exact steps are required to achieve it.

Measurable

How will you measure your progress and know when you’ve achieved your goal? Before you put actions in place, it’s important to understand how you’ll measure success, setting up deadlines, reports and data to track your progress.

Achievable

While challenging yourself and setting stretch targets is great, your goal must also be achievable. If it’s too far out of your comfort zone, a big change, or unrealistic, you’ll be less likely to achieve it and it will be harder to keep focused.

Relevant

Is your goal relevant to your business and objectives? There’s no point spending time, resources and budget on a goal that isn’t going to help you reach your overall business purpose or vision. Creating alignment will result in investing in goals that have a purpose.

Time Bound

You have a great goal in place, that’s relevant, measurable and specific. But when do you need to achieve this? Without a deadline or milestone, there’s no sense of urgency and you may never achieve your goals.

10 New Year resolutions to add more value to your business

Now that you’ve set your goals, here are 10 New Year resolutions to help you get there and build resilience and growth along the way.

1. Get your cash flow under control

Knowing what money you have coming in and out can be life-changing for your business. A healthy cash flow is vital to the viability of your business, and improving your cash flow will reduce financial stress and ensure you have enough cash to cover your financial obligations.

2. Keep your financial records up to date

Having control of your cash is vital to your business success. By keeping your financial records up to date, you can get a more accurate overview of where your business is, better identify opportunities and risks, and make more informed decisions.

3. Create cash flow forecasts

Do you know what cash position you’ll be in next month or next quarter? Estimating your cash flow will help you know what expenses and income to expect. It also helps you budget better, understand your working capital, and make strategic investment decisions. If you’re new to forecasting, this is something your accountant or business advisor can support you with.

4. Assess your business goals each month

Business goals should evolve with your business needs and objectives. By regularly reviewing your goals, you can ensure your business goals are still aligned with your overall plan and are strategically supporting your business. It also allows you to put strategies in place to reduce potential impacts.

5. Use reporting to make strategic decisions

Making business decisions without insights is the equivalent of making decisions blindfolded. Leveraging insights from business reporting enables you to make more strategic and informed decisions about the road ahead. Not sure what reports you need? Chat to your accountant or business advisor.

6. Better manage risks

Do you know where your biggest risks lie and what you need to be ready for them? Understanding where your risks are and having strategies in place to better mitigate and eliminate them will strengthen the resilience of your business. 

7. Create quarterly and monthly action plans

How are you going to achieve your long-term goals? By defining milestones and creating tactical action plans for each quarter and month, you’ll be able to stay focused, and better measure progress.

8. Communicate more effectively with your team

You have the goals and the action plans in place. Have you communicated this with your team, and do they know what they’re working towards? Communicating your goals and action plans with your team will ensure you’re all working towards a common goal and they know the role they play in the business’ success.

9. Value your (and your team’s) time

Free up your time and that of your team’s by streamlining how you work and automating your processes. This will free up time to work on more valuable, strategic tasks rather than being caught up in the drama and tasks of each day. 

10. Create accountability 

Having goals is great, but how do you keep on track? Sharing your goals with your accountant, business advisor or mentor will keep you accountable and increase your chance of success. Someone like your business advisor can help you keep honest, set realistic milestones, overcome goal challenges, and put strategies in place to enable you to get there.

Need someone to keep you on track?

Book a 1:1 session with a business advisor and let’s work on your goals together. We can ensure you have the tools you need to reach your goals and provide advice on how best to get there.

McNamara & Company - Chartered Accountants, located minutes from the Melbourne CBD
www.mcnamaraandcompany.com.au/contact-us
Phone +61 3 9428 1062
Email admin@mcnamaraandco.com
Please refer to disclaimer at the bottom of the page.