Welcome to 2022!
From all of us at Simplebks, we would like to wish you a very prosperous new year! We sincerely hope your business will have more wins and take on new territories in 2022!
The dream of every entrepreneur is to increase revenue, optimize cost, enhance profit, acquire more assets, acquire more customers and expand operations/branches. For your business to be bigger than last year, you must have some requisite knowledge that smart businesses have veritably utilized in the past.
If you have any of the goals listed above for your business in 2022, you are at the right place to gain insights into how to achieve them.
7 simple steps to meet all your organizational goals in 2022
1. Create/Update your business plan
A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how a business defines its objectives and how it is to go about achieving its goals. [Investopedia]
Think of business plans as a roadmap that details every turn towards your business destination.
If you do have an existing business plan, you should be looking to re-evaluate it. This is necessary given the fact that the business climate has most likely changed since you wrote your business plan. Your business must rethink and be dynamic to stay relevant in your sphere.
If your business does not have a business plan, you must create one to guide you towards achieving your business targets for this year. We provide below a frame you can adapt to design your business plan:
i. Executive summary
ii. Company description
iii. Objective Statement/Business Goals
iv. Business and management structure
v. Products and services
~ An explanation of how your product or service works
~ The pricing model for your product or service
~ The typical customers you serve
~ Your sales and distribution strategy
~ Why your product or service is better than what the competition is offering
~ How you plan to fill orders
vi. Marketing and sales plan
vii. Business financial analysis
viii. Financial projections
ix. Appendix
Remember to…
… Avoid over-optimism
… Keep it concise
… Proofread
… Use free resources
Business plans are crucial to the success of your business. However, it isn’t meant to be a one-and-done document. The start of a new year is a great time to revisit it and update your plan with the latest financials, goals, competitor research, marketing ideas etc. so your business can achieve every target in 2022.
Perhaps, your business has been unable to meet many of the goals you set in 2021, a tumultuous year that brought a lot of the same challenges as 2020. Do not be bothered, there are still ways to get back on track and prepare for a better 2022.
2. SET YOUR TARGETS AND MAKE THEM REALISTIC
One of the features of your business plan is your Objective Statement or Business Goals. As a business owner, you probably know already that setting targets for your business are very important. You may have had some targets right from when you were starting up or at the turn of previous years.
However, businesses often found that these targets elude them. Why is this the case? This may be traceable to the fact that most businesses set targets that are not realistic from their current position. Some business owners do this because they are feeling very motivated when the targets are being set. For others, it is because of a lack of sufficient study. Others do it deliberately as a ‘projection’ they know they cannot meet, they just want to go as far as they can towards the goal.
Whichever it is, what you should know is that, when you set ridiculously high goals for your business and miss them repeatedly, the sense of sanctity surrounding meeting targets will start eroding from you and your business. This, you must correct by setting achievable goals for your business. You will discover that the satisfaction you derive from meeting your targets will increase your drive to go for more.
Remember; “It’s OK to be optimistic if you can justify it,”– Craig Allen
Too many business owners do not know the threshold for realistic business targets. Our automated bookkeeping tool can help your business compute your business projections. You can try it for free here.
Also, you must utilize the SWOT Analysis for your business to know just what your business can achieve right now. SWOT Analysis is a tool that can help you to analyze what your company does best right now, and to devise a successful strategy for the future. SWOT can also uncover areas of the business that are holding you back, or that your competitors could exploit if you don’t protect yourself (We promise to bring you an in-depth article on this essential tool. Stay tuned).
3. DEVELOP GOOD BUSINESS PRACTICES – EMBRACE AUTOMATION
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
There is a long list of good habits you must develop and we are willing to bet you possess a good number of them already. They include creating a routine, waking up early, working out, meditating, getting a head start on the next day, tracking your progress, learning amongst others.
For this discourse, we are particular about one useful habit too many business owners choose to neglect – letting technology take over.
Quite often, small to medium scale businesses are reluctant to embrace the benefits of emerging technology available in their industries. This is due to varying reasons ranging from fear of expense (which is often time, not the case), lack of know-how, detachment from information and even paranoia. But the truth is, our world has evolved and your business must with it. We know you will not transact with a bank that still does manual counting instead of using teller machines and banking apps. Your business must embrace appropriate technological tools to stay in the loop with the smartest businesses of the 21st century.
Automation is having a preprogrammed computer software undertake your tasks and it has a lot of benefits for your business. For instance, Simplebks accounting software makes the mundane task of bookkeeping simple, accurate and mobile. Automating your bookkeeping means you can recourse all the man-hours you spend balancing your books to other things like brainstorming or simply… resting.
4. EXPAND YOUR NETWORK
Because of your workload as a business owner, it may sometimes be very difficult for your tired brain to visualize new things to add to your business that may benefit you in the long run.
If you however make efforts to make a new connection once a week or monthly, you improve the odds of finding a new business lead, learning some valuable trade intel, or creating a strong professional relationship. The more you network, the more results you’ll see. Schedule networking on your calendar like any other to-do to ensure it becomes a priority and not an afterthought.
5. DON’T BE STALE
Too many business owners relax when they achieve a state of perceived equilibrium, so much that their customers know exactly what to expect from them. Such businesses will easily lose clients to their exciting competitors.
You must always get creative with the way you meet your clients’ needs. Remember when your service is consistently good for too long, it becomes standard average. The only thing better than a good service is well… a better service. Always bring new ideas, settings, new packaging, and even new décor to your business. This sends a sense of activeness to your clients subconsciously.
Two terms that should dwell chiefly in your meetings with your employees or yourself (we know you hold those self-meetings haha!) are “Updating” and “Improving”. You must always think of ways to improve on what you have built before your competitors do. When your customers are satisfied with your service but meet an improved service the next time they are patronizing your business, they will be rooted and invested in your outfit. Don’t forget, leaving some tasks for intelligent computer programmes will give you a lot of time for brainstorming new ideas. (Psssst, we also recommend checking our blog regularly for tips and tricks about successful businesses).
Whatever you do, stay ahead of your competitors!
6. ENSURE TO BUILD TEAM HARMONY
If your business has grown to have a couple of employees, it is safe to assume you reached the stage when you simply cannot run it alone anymore – as you must have realized too.
You must therefore find a way to instill the same drive you carry in your team.
One way to do this is by sharing your goal with them and making them feel like core parts of what you are doing. If you put them on the basis of ‘just-do-what-you-are-told’ that is exactly what they will do, and all the fragments of ideas you can pool together from them will be bottled up. You need to make them feel like your team, not just your employees.
Another way to get the best of your team is making sure they feel appreciated working with you. Some proprietors are so self-absorbed that employees feel like a shell of themselves while at work. When they feel appreciated, however, they will want to do more. The results they get from doing more will make them want to do even more. Employees that feel engaged and inspired at work are more productive than those that resume every morning just for their paycheck.
The creation of an effective company culture ensures that your business is autonomous to a great extent which brings us to…
7. AVOID BURNOUT
It’s no secret that many business owners overwork themselves. As much as it is good to pour your energy (both mental and physical) into your business, you must always remember that burnout is not good for you or even the business.
Too many business owners wait till their bodies tell them to stop. No, we do not blame you for this, these things need to be done. You may think you will be disciplined enough to get some rest in, but the drive for results you carry will always tempt you to go a little farther. This may eventually prove counterproductive since your business will likely suffer if you are incapacitated – especially in the absence of viable company autonomy.
We recommend two ways to help you avoid burnout.
a. Delegate: wanting to do everything by yourself is by no means an admirable trait no matter how noble your intentions are. You should always delegate some tasks when you can so that you will have the concentration and energy to satisfactorily finish the ones you are left with. It helps your business to be self-sustaining. It helps you too and it helps your future.
b. Use smart tools: we are not oblivious to the fact some business owners simply do not have anyone to delegate tasks to. That is why we recommend using smart tools for your business tasks. Simplebks Accounting software for example will do much more than you can with your business records based on smart business models designed into the tool.
Smart tools will save your time and health, enhance your productivity and remove undue difficulties from running your business.
We will like to hear your new year plans/resolutions for your business as well. Drop them in the comments below!
Once again, we wish you a very happy and prosperous new year.