Have You Made Your 2016 Business Resolutions?

{3:42 minutes to read}

Aimee B Davis

January, 12 2016

Happy New Year!

January is a good time for businesses to look under the hood and kick the tires. The beginning of the new year provides an excellent opportunity to:

Evaluate what marketing practices are working well;
Abandon ineffective strategies and replace them with new ones; and/or
Simply tweak the strategies and practices you still have confidence in.

With the hope that my readers gain some valuable insights, I reaffirmed my commitment to blogging in 2016. As my fellow bloggers can attest, consistent blogging is challenging.

Often it’s difficult to find and/or commit the time to writing; and
It’s equally difficult to come up with topics to write about.

I seek inspiration for blog topics from the CLE presentations, networking events and the monthly biz-dev breakfast meetings I attend. This is why I was looking forward to participating in a business development meeting early in December.

Prior to the meeting, the organizer requested that we come prepared to discuss things we will do differently in 2016.

At first I felt intimidated by this question. For several reasons, including:

My discomfort with public speaking;
Thinking about and admitting to something that can be done better in the future;
Potentially admitting to a business failure;
Figuring out what affirmative steps need to be taken to make the desired change; and
Committing to doing something differently in the future.

Have you made your 2016 business resolutions?

Each of the 25 people attending the meeting had an opportunity to state their 2016 plans. Interestingly, nearly ½ of the people said they either needed to change or enhance their business development and marketing efforts, or they hoped to improve and streamline their use of systems and technologies.

I learned a lot at that meeting. I learned that being a business owner requires you to reevaluate your marketing efforts, your systems, your processes, and your use of technology on a frequent and regular basis.

I also learned that articulating something you might want to change is different from knowing what affirmative steps should/need to be taken. It doesn’t necessarily mean that after conducting a reasonable cost/benefit analysis, the business owner will conclude that taking affirmative steps to change will be worth the time and effort. I now understand that articulating your desired change is merely the first step in a long process. I am thankful to this group for providing me an opportunity to focus on that first step early in December of 2015.

In order to remain vibrant, a business owner should view this reevaluation time as an opportunity to enhance success in the upcoming year, rather than focusing on past mistakes made, or squandered and/or ill-advised business expenses.

As each new day creates an opportunity to be a better person, each new year creates an opportunity to be a more successful business owner. Best wishes for a prosperous 2016!

Aimee B. Davis Law P.C. is committed to advising its clients and resolving issues relating to the legal and business matters that are important to them. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at (917) 617-2243 or email aimee@aimeebdavis.com.