As 2022 comes to an end, don't just bulldoze into the new year without taking some time to close up the year for your small business.
1. Celebrate
You did it, business babes, you did so much! A full year (or less if you're newer!) has gone by and you've busted your butt growing your business. You deserve to celebrate, cheers to you!
□ Reflect on your accomplishments from the past year
□ Thank your followers and customers with a heart-felt social media post or email
□ Host a giveaway or promotion to give back to the community you've grown around your business.
□ Share you accomplishments! Tell your followers and customers all the amaxing things you've been doing this past year.
2. Review the year
12 months is a long time. Taking the time to review the entire year can help to give you perspective on your longterm growth and it's a great way to check in and set some new goals.
□ Assess your growth, both size and direction. Take a look at how much have you grown in this last year, including new staff, products, clients, services. Are you where you thought you would be? Are you still heading in the same direction as a year ago?
□ Review and put together a report for your sales or finances from the year.
□ Utilize the analytics that social media platforms provide. Most platforms have reports you can export, this is valuable data you can learn from.
3. Backup and Organize
Don't move into a new year without cleaning up the previous one! Taking the time to backup and organize your digital assets and files can help to start the new year in a better headspace.
□ Backup all your important 2022 files, invoices, reports and images to a hard drive.
□ Organize and evaluate file-naming or folder systems that you use. How can you be more organized next year? Which part of administration did you struggle with, and how can you alleviate that?
□ Put away files you don’t use, by creating an archive folder for 2022 and moving files you won't use but might need one day to keep your digital space more organized.
□ Do an inventory check to start the year off with confidence in your accuracy.
4. Plan for the future
Settings New Years Resolutions? Don't forget your business! Set some goals throughout the year and check back often to update them. Set big goals for the year, seasonal goals and little goals along the way.
□ Set some goals for the next year, big grande dreamy ones and also small realistic achievements.
□ Set milestones throughout the year and check back monthly to see how you’re doing on your goals. Adjust as needed.
5. Refresh
A new year is a great opportunity to check all of your online information for accuracy and to keep your digital space fun and exciting for returning and new customers.
□ Audit your website, check that all information is updated, links are working and the user experience flows smoothly through the site.
□ Update contact or vendor details, email lists/folders.
□ Refresh social media logos and profiles/bios. Make sure you cover the basic information that a new customer in 2023 would need.
□ Check for product or services descriptions that may be inaccurate or stale since they were updated last.