Whether it’s been a good year or not, it’s important to be ready to tackle the next year on the calendar. So here are some tips to help you get your house in order before 2014 becomes 2015.
You had a good year
If this is you, your first step should be to meet with your accountant, or just go over your books, to see how much better you did than last year. Make sure your estimated tax payments weren’t too low, and find out if you need to adjust your January payment. You should also take this opportunity to make sure all of your debts are paid, and your obligations met. The end of the year is hectic, and you don’t want to spend money you don’t have.
When you confirm these funds, look at your business, and see what sort of investments you can make to keep growing.
Did it feel like you were having problems keeping up with orders? Invest in more equipment or staff. Congress is debating raising the Section 179 deduction limit back up to $500,000, so 2015 might be a great year to invest in new equipment and other qualifying property.
After you find a few investments, deconstruct what you did this year and figure out why this year was particularly good. Success is rarely a fluke, so you should take all of your campaigns and initiatives from the past year apart, and find out what worked.
Finally, think about giving your staff an end-of-the-year bonus. Last year only 23 percent of businesses gave their staff a bonus, so I understand if you don’t usually hand them out. But your team is a major part of your company’s success and you should reward them for their hard work. Plus end-of-the-year bonuses are tax deductible!
It was not a good year
I’ve worked with a few business owners in this situation, and more often than not, they just bit off more than they could chew. Scale back, and bootstrap wherever you can. The biggest problem you’re facing is time. You just need enough time to figure out what happened, and then fix the problem. Look at what your company did, and ask yourself why 2014 panned out this way.
Did you notice business drop off at any specific times this year? Have you changed anything? Tried anything new? Deconstruct and isolate the decisions that might have hurt your business, and be ready to jump into 2015 ready to fix those problems.
When looking at your business for this last year, you should constantly ask “why?” Too many business owners assume fate has an effect on their bottom line. And while it’s true that some people are luckier than others, a company isn’t built on the whims of fortune. It is built on decisive action and business acumen. Now is a great time to analyze your business and your sales, and make a plan for 2015.
Preparation and success go hand in hand. ●
