Looking Ahead: Setting Business Goals for the New Year

​It’s the most wonderful time of year, a time of joy, family, and giving. 

You have worked hard all year and should enjoy time with loved ones over the holidays, bearing in mind that a new year awaits. A new year is a chance to rebuild, expand, and increase profits and efficiency. 

Here are some steps to take as you are setting business goals for the new year.

1. Review your past year of business
2. Cast your vision for your business
3. Set SMART goals
4. Involve your team
5. Clearly define actionable steps
6. Create a plan for monitoring progress
7. Plan to celebrate victories (big and small)

Step 1: Review
Review is a necessary part of growth, small and medium-sized business owners need to reflect on the past year and determine what worked well, what didn’t, and what they might want to change for the future. It’s also important to consider any changes in your market or industry, new trends, or opportunities. 

Step 2: Cast vision
Every year is a chance to bring you closer to reaching your long-term goals for your business. Understanding where you are in those long-term goals helps you cast vision for yearly goals and growth. Be sure you communicate with your team, financial partners, and clients any changes or exciting developments that lie ahead.

Step 3: SMART goals
When setting goals for the new year, the SMART goal framework is a great way to go about it. Business owners need to set goals that are: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Know what you want, what success looks like, how to get there, how it applies to your business this year, and when you want to reach those goals.

Step 4: Teamwork
Business owners need to involve their team when setting goals. Whether you have a team brainstorming session, or prepare your team’s expectations for the upcoming year, you cannot accomplish anything without them. Create buy-in, cast vision, and encourage your team for the year.

Step 5: Actionable steps
Business owners need to break down larger goals into smaller, actionable steps. This removes the daunting aspect of bigger goals and helps outline the path to success. Communicate the medium and smaller milestones to your team and the role they play in accomplishing them. Consider putting the list of these actionable steps in an accessible place where you and your team can review them often to stay on track.

Step 6: Monitor progress
Create a plan with or for your team on how you will monitor and review progress. As you go throughout the year, you may discover something working differently than expected, and changes are required. This is a normal part of business and shouldn’t be seen as a negative, but creating guidelines for review and revision ahead of time will make communication and changes efficient.

Step 7: Celebrate
Every good business owner knows maintaining morale is vital to progress and creates a healthy work environment. Plan ahead of time what milestones (big or small) you want to celebrate with your team/customers/supporters. This gives everyone something to look forward to and keeps the work environment encouraging and positive.

Whether you are looking to expand your business into new markets, increase profits, and more, setting your goals and expectations for your business at the start of a new year is the way to get there. Plan, set goals, engage your team, and know what your roadmap to success looks like.

From everyone at Prairie Business Credit: Happy Holidays! 

Looking to secure working capital for your business this upcoming year? We can help. Prairie Business Credit is a national working capital provider to young, growing, or recovering businesses. We offer accounts receivable financing, purchase order financing, and equipment financing. Our company serves both as a trusted financial resource and consultant to entrepreneurs dedicated to building their businesses and ensuring their success.