In today’s edition of Tips from the Experts, we asked four business professionals to share their top 5 business resolutions for the year to come.
Bertie Stephens, Founder and CEO of Flubit
1. Communication is Key
As we grow the Flubit group, it’s important to keep communication flowing to develop a close knit team, making sure everyone is kept up to date and involved in business news and the vision of the company. If everyone has a clear understanding of the potential of what we are doing and where we are heading then that’s a big step in achieving our goals.
2. Listen to Feedback and Act upon It
Getting feedback from our users and customers has always been critical to Flubit’s development. We actively encourage users to get in touch and are very much available and visible on social media. Much of our product development has come about as a result of suggestions from our customers. Your clients and customers hold the key to your success, so always try and listen out for feedback – good and bad.
3. Continue to Improve
To stay ahead of the curve, always look to keep improving, innovating and making things better, as stalling means you’ll stagnate. We had a great 2014, but we already have some exciting new product launches scheduled for early 2015.
4. Build a Good Team
To be successful in business you need a strong team. Keep them motivated and up for a challenge by involving them in business decisions, canvas opinion and let everyone have a say in the future of the business. It will help ensure the team feels involved and that they play a key role in the company’s success.
5. Try New Things and Keep Learning
Things won’t always work out as planned, but sometimes you learn more from failures than successes. Look to competitors and companies outside of your sector to see what innovations are taking place and who is disrupting the status quo. New technologies are evolving fast and you need to keep up with the latest developments and improve your skill set to stay ahead.
Alex O’Byrne, Director at We Make Websites
1. Set New High Level Goals
Let’s start with where you want to go. The start of the new year is a great opportunity to clear your mind of assumptions and baggage. What do you actually want to achieve and why?
Consider this from both a professional and lifestyle perspective. It seems to me that the lines between traditional work/life balance are blurring due to more relaxed employers, better connectivity and the nature of ‘knowledge’ work. Use this to your advantage; don’t let it go against you by working all the time. Find the work you want to do and make sure it also fits with your personal priorities. Decide on one or two ultimate goals and then work backwards from there.
2. To Do List Purge
Let’s face it – some of those to dos from 2014 (or even 2013) are never going to be done. Go through and either delete them or schedule the items for this week if they are worth keeping. Taking a similar approach to your physical workspace will help focus you. Clear out old paperwork and clutter that was acquired during the action of 2014. Freshening up the place will put you in the right mindset.
3. Workflow Improvements
Are you using the right tools and workflow for your personal productivity? Consider Trello or Evernote to make your organising capabilities super human. Ask around about what other people use. Take the chance to upgrade your tools.
The optimism of the new year may even let you make wider changes in your team or organisation. What problems did you have in 2014? Where was time wasted? Where could the quality of your work be better? Could some systems be replaced? Are there sensible workarounds that would save everyone time? Your whole company will be back with that new year buzz with all sorts of resolutions and promises for 2015. How can you make wider changes by riding this wave of optimism?
4. Make Sure You Find Flow
When you are deeply absorbed in a task and the time passes without you noticing, you’re in flow. There’s no space for anything else as you are so caught up in the moment. Some common times when this happens include:
- Working as a team such as in a sport or small project.
- Working alone on a difficult task that you have the skills to perform.
- Playing a musical instrument.
This is the easiest way to find wellbeing, and a great deal of trauma surrounding the search for “happiness” could be averted if people realised that it really is the journey that makes us feel good, not the destination. Since we spend so much of our waking life at work, it’s a good place to start improving our lived experience.
The feeling of being useful, competent and engaged makes us feel content, not the superficial ideas of comfort and happiness that we are shown in mass media. Try and put yourself in roles where you can attain this.
5. Learn To Be Mindful
Bear with me.
Finally, I think many lives, and society in general, could be improved if we spent more time being mindful. Mindfulness was defined by John Kabat-Zinn as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”. An easy way to start doing this is to find a place you won’t be disturbed and begin counting your breaths, focussing only on this task. It’s hard at first but eventually you’ll notice a new calm and improved attitude to the world.
I can’t cover much on mindfulness here but have a search online or download the Headspace app and eventually you’ll be able to take this new peace and focus into your everyday work and life, benefiting all dimensions of your wellbeing.
Carla Bradman, Marketing Communications Manager at Paramount Properties
1. Get Online
I understand resistance to Facebook. I even understand resistance to Twitter. But the one I thing I don’t understand is why people in business are resistant to LinkedIn. By simply creating an account and connecting with people you already know, you’ll have access to a wealth of targeted information. Then, as and when you’re ready, start exploring groups and posting content – and see how far your message travels.
2. Get Offline
If you spend all your time working online (like me) take a step back and spend some time offline. In a digital world we get used to having only one type of relationship, and we need to remember that what we do offline can complement our digital activity, even if you do have to schedule it in…
3. Build Your Personal Brand
The term ‘personal brand’ used to send shivers down my spine, but 2014 was a pivotal time for me as I finally realised that ‘building my personal brand’ was just another way of sharing my expertise. So I set myself a goal to share what I knew with anyone who asked, and ended the year providing comments on social media, community management and digital marketing for the Guardian, Telegraph and Financial Times. Make 2015 the year you identify your niche and start sharing your expertise with others.
4. Help Others
Whether it’s helping a charity with their bookkeeping or volunteering in a soup kitchen, make time in your schedule to help others. I’d advise all businesses to encourage workplace volunteering too; at Paramount it’s helped us work better as a team as well as helping those in our local community.
5. Ask Questions
If someone starts discussing a topic you don’t know much about, make sure you ask them for more information. It can be easy to nod and bluff your way through conversations and meetings, but think how much you and your workplace will gain with all the new information you’ll learn throughout the year.
Hazel Theocharous, Business Coach at Small Business Trainer
1. Review Business Plan
It is that time of the year again to review your business plan and incorporate goals for the new year. Setting targets for one month, three months, six months and twelve months is also a great idea to measure your success.
2. Update Marketing Plan
It is essential to make sure you update your marketing plan with any new campaigns for the first quarter, incorporating your social media, blog posts and newsletter – scheduling these ahead of time will also allow you to focus on other business matters.
3. Budget
Set up your monthly budget for your business to incorporate training, networking, accounting and coaching (if required). It is best to include all these figures from the start so you know what you are working with.
4. Time Management
Create your weekly timetable to enable you to schedule time for you, time for your clients, family time and time for working on your business! Starting the new year time effective and organised allows you to do the things you want to do, while still attending to business matters.
5. To Do List
Set up your ‘to do list’ every evening before leaving the office. This allows you to start the next morning fresh and ready to tackle all the tasks on your list.
Thanks to all our contributors for their valuable advice. Do you have any tips on making resolutions for 2015 that you would like to share? Feel free to leave a comment in the section below.