New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Entrepreneurs

We live in a fast-paced world. One that — without fail — shifts our focus to the year ahead before the current one has even ended.

And hey, forward-thinking is a critical skill for any small business owner to possess. You need to plan in order to grow.

But just as you shouldn’t necessarily resolve to lose 30 pounds by January 31st, you also shouldn’t set unrealistic New Year’s goals or timelines for your business. From the big picture to the everyday, here are some feasible resolution ideas to consider for next year’s planning.

Support Your Staff (and Self) with Continued Education

The trouble with a “go-go-go” mentality is that it can cloud judgement. Of course, you and your staff can maintain the statusquo to keep the current pace — but what if there were ways to work smarter, not harder?

Moving into the new year, consider exploring different opportunities for learning relative to your business’ long-term goals. This could include:

• Joining an entrepreneurial networking group

• Signing up for some LinkedIn Learning courses

• Adding a monthly Staples Spotlight Event to the calendar

• Demo-ing a Skillshare for Teams plan

Sit down with your team and have an honest conversation about their skills gap. Then use that information to figure out what they need to improve and take your operations to the next level.

Upgrade Your Tech

As we know, the end of the year into the early new year is a great time for scooping up deals.

Make a list or spreadsheet to serve as your single source of truth for all of the software your team currently uses or subscribes to. Survey your team on how frequently different tools are used so you can gauge their importance and potentially explore upgrades. Alternatively, if something isn’t being used, discuss whether it makes sense to cancel or replace it with something better.

Beyond software, you can also explore technology deals through the Staples Deals Centre. There you’ll find discounts on everything you need to upgrade office work in the new year.

Make Your Website a Priority

By now, you’ve hopefully realized that your business needs a website. If you’ve since been getting by with a website created on-the-fly, it might be worth working towards creating a better, more optimized experience for customers in the new year.

Decide whether or not what you need from your website can be conducted internally or requires outsourcing. If you’ll need to bring in help, Staples’ Website and Digital Marketing Services team can help you streamline efforts across your website, email newsletter, social media, blogging, and more through one convenient service.

Put a Business Plan on Paper

There’s a time and a place for small goals. If you want to get serious about your business in the new year though, prepare a business plan.

BDC offers some tips on how to build out a plan. Tips that include:

• Conducting an analysis of your market and competitors.

• Identifying your business’ differentiators.

• Thinking through how you’ll market your business.

• Understanding your financial and equipment needs.

Once you have a drafted business plan, it’ll be much easier to gather feedback from other entrepreneurs and business owners. Transfer the vision in your head to paper and make it real.

For more ideas on how to build and strengthen your business in the new year, explore our full content library of article and video resources.