I’m tempted to add “New Year’s resolutions” to my list of dirty words. The phrase is just too steeped with failure — it doesn’t help, of course, that the media loves to bombard us with abysmal statistics. Apparently 25% of us can’t even stick to a resolution for a week and 88% fall by the wayside within a year. There’s even an industry that analyses the top reasons we fail!
Are we really that pathetic?
No. I think we fail because no-one has taught us to make effective resolutions — our resolutions are too vague and focus on the negative, which means we either have no plan of attack or have to deprive ourselves of something we love, such as chocolate. So I’m not going to give up making New Year’s resolutions just yet… I’m just going to make ones that are specific and optimistic. I’ve brainstormed a list of bite-sized things we can all do to boost our businesses and refresh our enthusiasm in 2012. Best of all, they’re (mostly) free and take less than five minutes to start!
Learn and grow
Professional development is a breeze, not to mention fun and inspiring when you:
- Join an association (and later take on a role)
- Get familiar with your local library’s business section
- Hire a consultant
- Attend a workshop or conference
- Learn how to write a press release
Get organised
A few simple strategies will transform the way you work. To get more done in less time and with fewer hassles:
- Set three to five specific goals at the beginning of each week
- Write a daily to-do list, tackling the most important tasks first
- Divide your time into blocks of related activities to reduce distractions and interruptions. For example, make your phone calls or answer your emails in a single sitting
- If you catch yourself procrastinating, ask yourself, “Is this the best use of my time?”
- Set a time limit on meetings and stick to it
- Spend 10 minutes a day doing those tasks you avoid… it quickly adds up.
Develop your business relationships
Networking doesn’t have to be scary; in fact, it can be surprisingly effortless:
- Join or friend business-related Facebook pages and regularly leave comments
- Say “thank you” more often: acknowledge everyone from your team members to the speaker at a seminar
- Decide to be cheerful: smile, compliment or chat to your customers, suppliers and associates, even if they’re grumpy or difficult
- Give people something for nothing: your time, advice, free samples or even small gifts
Attract more customers
Don’t have a marketing and promotions budget? A little creativity and Internet savvy go a long way:
- Join social networks. Get on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr
- Start a blog or guest post on a related blog
- Create a new email signature with all your contact details, including address, phone numbers, email, website and social networking links
- Engage with small business forums: ask questions, leave comments and share your experiences
- Invite customers, suppliers and associates to join your mailing list
- Develop partnerships with complementary businesses
- Share your expertise: run free workshops, make videos for Youtube or write an e-book to download from your website
- Run a competition or donate prizes to an event
- Start an incentive/rewards program
