It’s wonderful to be into a whole new year and I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and prosperous year ahead.

Just because the date changes it shouldn’t really make a big difference to how we feel inside, but somehow being in a whole new year does make the majority of us feel like we welcome a fresh start and find new ways of tackling old problem and forging ahead.

The year has started with a VAT increase.  There’s nothing you or I can do about that.  Let’s get on with it and find ways to innovate our offer and services and forge ahead to success regardless.

Ready Steady Go – here are 5 key things to focus on this week:

Acknowledge your 2010 accomplishments

Make a list of everything you achieved last year that was directly in line with your business plan and outside of it.  Make a note of who helped make your successes possible. Who do you need to thank?  Whose praises should you be singing in mediums where you can?  What behaviours and characteristics do you think contributed to these successes?  What can you learn from how others have worked with you and for you?  Keep this list of accomplishments, skills and traits visible and always celebrate successes.

Who do you need to spend more time with this year?

Think about your whole life.  Who can you learn from in your professional and personal life?  Who’s genuinely there for you to bounce ideas off?  Do you need find a better life/work balance and be more present to your friends and family?  Work on improving all relationships in your life this year and make time for you to recharge, refocus and avoid burnout.

Who do you need to spend less time with?

Is there someone in your life who consistently seems to drain your energy and is too needy of you?  Have any staff members emotionally ‘quit’ their job yet are still on the payroll?  Are there negative influences in your life that ought to be addressed and removed? Are you an energy drain on others?

Key person knowledge

There are two types of people: information sharers and information holders. Is there someone in your business who is carrying vital information about your systems and operations around in their head?  No one individual can hold all the keys to your business.  That’s crazy!  Create a central admin file  that records vital information (regularly backed up) and nominate the best person with the right skills to maintain this file.  If the ‘key person knowledge’ left your office today with your vital info in their head, you can imagine the crisis you can now prevent.

Upskilling

What skill or skills do you need to develop this year in order to take your business to the next level?  You’re the business owner and of course you need to and should be well developed with business knowledge on an on-going basis.  Yet who else in your business could develop their skills to work even smarter for you and with you to maximise their contribution? Upskilling is for all members of your organisation.  If you had a magic wand, what one upskill would make the biggest difference to you personally and to the performance of your business?

For those of you who are new to the EBA and are a start up venture, we know exactly how you feel.  We opened the doors of the Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy in March 2010 and we face the same issues you face.  We started in a recession just like you may have done.  We did it anyway!  We know we have to constantly appraise what we do, ditch or dump what doesn’t work and continually review and revise and move forwards and stick to the plan yet apply a healthy dose of flexibility and adaptability.  It’s an essential mindset and skillset of a successful business owner to fall forwards, not backwards.  None of us have a crystal ball to see the future. We can only plan for it and the enlightened business owner will have strategies in place to manage the curveballs that come.  Nothing comes to those who don’t fully reach out for it with both hands.  At the EBA we are passionate about business.  Our team consists of several self made multi millionaires for whom no silver spoon or family hand-out existed.

Successful business is a combination of right idea, researched market/need, skillset and mindset.  Being an entrepreneur on the up in full throttle is one of the best feelings!

Here’s to the best year ever!  Take control of your business.  Come join us.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Bev James