The new year is practically here and like the rest of us, I’ve got grand ideas of what the new year will bring. More productivity, meeting those goals, and unexpected grandiose opportunities of course, right? But before any of that can happen here are a few things I like to do to prep my biz & myself for the new year.
- Rest & rejuvenate - this by far is the most important. In the stationery world (and other product based businesses) many people take a ‘winter break’ after the holidays. For me, I use this time to completely check out & do absolutely nothing work related. I try to do some of my favorite activities (currently thrifting & visiting local coffee shops with friends), read, and travel if I can; things that will give me new perspective, allow me to have fun, and, not to be cliché, inspire me.
- Look at the numbers - this is the no fun part. If you’re like me, you didn’t start a small biz for the numbers but they’re so important. I look at total sales, totals spent in each category (product, marketing, events, etc.), wholesale v retail, and more. You can really break this down as far as you like. Once I have those numbers I compare them to the previous year and see where there were improvements & where there were differences. This helps me figure out what worked and where to make changes/spend more of my focus in the coming year.
- Audit my product line - I look at my entire catalog of products and pull what’s not working anymore. Not every design is a hit & over time my style has evolved so not everything fits my vision anymore. This time of year I go through and mark what will be discontinued. I also start thinking about what types of new products, if any, I'd like to add to my line.
- Update my website & socials - updating products, adjusting FAQs, updating my bio, and those other small details on any website is a great thing to do this time of year. Same for socials - updating those bio photos, highlights, bio descriptions, etc. Small things that you can get done & forget about in the new year.
- Set my goals; both for biz & personal - once all of this work is done I like to make a list of goals for the year, for both the business and myself. I’ve never been a big goals person, they don’t motivate me in that way, but setting aside time to think about them helps me get in the right mindset for how to make them happen. Thinking about what I want to accomplish and how I want to get there is more so what I need than the physical list.
I could go on and on but this is the gist! All of these can be broken down into so many smaller tasks but these are the main things I try to do before or at the beginning of the year. Is there a certain task you ~have~ to do before the new year? Let me know!
