How has your year been? Where will you be in 12 months’ time?
If you don’t have precise answers for those questions, then now is the time to get them. That’s now, as in early December, not January or February.
As a salon owner myself, I know this is already a really busy time but honestly, this is the right moment to properly reflect on the past year and plan for the one ahead. Waiting for calm after New Year is too late. Before you know it, you’ve drifted for another two months when you could have been tackling real improvements.
Make time to reflect
Don’t let this opportunity get away from you. You should already have a good idea of what worked for you this year and what didn’t go quite so well. Take the time to list it all down, including why you think things went the way they did.
Go through your list line-by-line, planning ways to strengthen the good stuff and eliminate the bad. It pays to be really thorough. You should aim to create a 10-point action plan containing everything you need for the coming year, including detailed milestones and timescales.
Be sure to create a similar list of all the wonderful things you want to achieve by the end of the year too, again with milestones and timescales attached. It’s so important to make sure that every improvement or change you decide upon is tied in to achieving your goals and ambitions.
Turn a journey into small steps
Once you’re happy that your objectives are clearly defined, it’s time to start breaking them down into bitesize pieces – month-by-month, step-by-step. I know this might sound scary or time-consuming or even impossible but trust me, it’s much easier to focus on small, achievable tasks with short-term deadlines than aiming for a much bigger, often more vague, far-off goal.
Imagine piecing together an enormous jigsaw. You start by finding the corners, then the edges, then picking out an obvious face or building… Before you know it, the puzzle’s nearly finished without you even noticing!
Whatever you choose to achieve, you want to make certain the results of every step are measurable. If you can’t prove that you’ve done something, or whether it was successful, then how can you judge your progress?
Think about your freedom
And finally, what about you? What do you want from the coming year? This planning exercise isn’t just for business goals but personal ones too. After all, the point of one is to benefit the other.
Be clear about exactly what you want out of the year for yourself; whether that’s sun-soaked holidays, time with the kids or just being more confident that your salon can cope without you for a few days. Wouldn’t you like just a bit more freedom?
Here’s to a successful year ahead. Happy planning!
Here’s to your great business in 2017!