A new year is a great time to map out your growth strategies for the year ahead and planning ahead can be the difference between working in your business vs on your business this year. Creating goals ahead of time will get you through tough times and motivate you and your team throughout the year.

Here are 5 things you need to do in the new year, preferably before the end of January, to prepare your company for a successful year ahead:

1. Celebrate the past year’s successes

No matter if it was your best, worst or mediocre year, there must have been some wins. It’s easy to see your failures, losses, and mistakes, but focus and reflect on those times you landed that big deal, gained a customer’s trust and loyalty, and all the other reasons that you made it through another year.

2. Positive Performance Reviews

Performance reviews do not have to be reserved for the middle or end of the year, the beginning of the year is a great time to review and assess your employees. This gives you a chance to tell them your goals and expectations for their department in the year to come and how you can achieve them together. You have a chance to inspire and get them motivated for the year and where you focus on their strengths and not their weaknesses.

3. Re-connect with your vision

Many people lose sight of the “WHY” due to all the distractions and challenges or disruptions they face. People tend to start working more In their business and lose sight of working On their business. Re-connect with the reason and inspiration of why you started your company, remember your roots and find the passion you started with again. Find ways to limit disruptions for a few hours per day and allocate this time towards working on strategies that will enhance your business either through streamlining or financially.

Review your budgeting

Go over last year’s numbers and make sure no surprises can sneak up on you that could have been avoided. See where you may have wasted money or resources last year and analyse the value of each expense against the revenue generated by it. Now is the right time to rethink your strategy or scratch that idea/campaign and start a different one.

• Review marketing costs and strategies. See what did not work and either adjust your approach or create a new one
• Review your suppliers: Search for new quotes for suppliers and see if you can get a better deal on supplies or services or renegotiate the terms with your existing suppliers.

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Set goals for the year

Write down clear goals for each month and plan your strategy of how you want to achieve them for the year ahead. When you have documented these yearly strategies, you can review them and easily see where you have gone wrong, what worked or not, and then adjust your strategy for each month to reach the goal you have set. Consider the following points when you think of your goals/targets:

• What is your budget for each department? Where do you need to spend more and how do you get those extra funds?
• Are you reaching your target audience? How can you reach more and what do you need to change?
• How can you get more or retain your loyal/returning customers and how can you get more revenue from your existing customers? Can you offer new services/products/ add more value somehow?
• Review pricing structure and markups
• How to improve staff loyalty, happiness, and productivity
• How to improve customer service
• How to get more good reviews  from happy customers