Before the current year concludes, there are important tasks solopreneurs and small business owners should complete. Tackling these items can help you prepare for a new calendar year and have a stress-free tax season.
Business: Atlanta Hair Color Studio
Photo Credit: CatMax Photography
Assess Your Business’s Reputation
Make time to critique how your business is being perceived and examine its branding. Analyze all the outer aspects that contribute to its reputation, like its social media pages, online reviews, advertising, etc., and ask yourself if you truly like what you see. What about your marketing efforts in general? Have they been effective? Did you achieve the goals you set out to? Do you need to ramp up marketing across the board to increase brand awareness and help build the reputation you desire? If so, consider investing in new professional photography to use in these endeavors. It’s a huge asset that can be applied across multiple mediums and platforms.
Organize
Now, look inward. Over the course of 12 months, organizational habits can fall to the wayside, and the negative effects of this often aren’t felt until later. So, comb through all the information that’s vital to your business and ensure it’s correct, current, well organized, and accessible for the appropriate team members—and establish a plan to keep it this way moving forward. You should also make sure everything is digitally backed up in two places and that you have hard copies of important files.
Talk to Your Team
Sit down with each of your team members to talk about their performance throughout the year and set goals for the year ahead. This is also a good time to discuss compensation and benefits and review and update contracts with team members, plus your policies and procedures.
Face Your Finances and Prepare for Tax Season
Once you’ve tidied up other areas of your business, do the same with your financial activity records. Going through your books and generating financial reports allows you to scrutinize your business’s financial health now and throughout the year. Be sure to study your balance sheet, cash flow statement, and profit and loss statement. You can use this and other financial information to review the systems, tax strategies, and goals you have in place and consider if changes are necessary.
In preparation for tax season, you’ll also need to issue any W-2s or 1099s for employees or contractors. You’ll also want to talk to your tax preparer about any new deductions or credits you can use.
(L TO R): Clary and Margaret Bosbyshell of Etienne Aigner
Photo Credit: CatMax Photography
Implement New Systems
Think about areas you could streamline or enhance to create a better experience for your customers and improve backend efficiency. Now is the time to test that email management software with advanced automation you’ve had your eye on or explore options for a rewards program. Research any new tools you may want to incorporate next year and use downtime for setup and to get acquainted with them.
Set Goals
Before jumping ahead, note all your business-related victories from the current calendar year. No matter the size of the feats, give yourself and your staff a pat on the back. Then, revisit your ultimate vision for the business and create realistic goals for next year that align with it. Consider soliciting customer and team member feedback as part of this process, too. Finally, establish a blueprint for turning your goals into reality and ponder the resources you’ll need.
Here’s to a fantastic future!
To learn more about how your business can benefit from the Personal Branding Experience offered by CatMax Photography, click here.