What Kind of Business Owner Are You?

2898021822_95279b8d07_z

The kind of business owner you are will predict the kind of year you’re going to have.

Most business owners race towards the finish line with blinkers on. They’re focused on pulling in those last sales and winning those new customers before closing things down for the festive season.

Unfortunately most business owners aren’t smart business owners, which is why most businesses owners struggle to meet their aims and grow their business year-on-year. Here’s why. 

As we approach the end of the year, most business owners race towards the finish line with blinkers on. They focus only on pulling in those last sales and winning those new customers before closing things down for the festive season.

Smart business owners do that but without the blinkers on. They see what is beyond the finish line – they see the new year ahead and they balance their time between hitting their end-of-year goals and preparing for next year.

Most business owners start to think about the New Year during their break when they should be relaxing with family and friends. They then return to their business not fully re-charged and energized and they simply carry on as they did before.

Smart business owners do switch off, relax and charge their batteries because they have already planned what they’ll do when they return to their business in January. These business owners are energized and excited because they’ve had time to think about their business and return with new and exciting ideas.

Most business owners return to their businesses in the New Year, spend some time thinking about the year ahead but rush the process (that they should have carried out last quarter) because the pressures have started and they quickly get sucked back into the day-to-day running of their business. And straight away their year is destined to become no better than the last.

Smart business owners return to work having already laid out their strategy for the year ahead and they know exactly what they’re going to do in the coming weeks and months to drive their business forward.

Most business owners start the year where they left off and are destined to face the same issues, setbacks and frustrations that they did the previous year.

Smart business owners use the last quarter to review what worked well, what didn’t, where their business was weak and inefficient and what hazards they encountered and may encounter in the coming year. Then they create a plan that will not only take their business to the next level but which will address the findings from their review.

So, most business owners don’t prepare for the year ahead. They ignore the things that went wrong during the year, they stick their head in the sand, hope they won’t happen again and later wonder why they face the same struggles.

Whereas Smart business owners prepare for the year ahead and end up making it far better than the one they left behind.

Are you going to be like most business owners and not take time out to prepare for next year or are you going to be a smart business owner and in these final 8 weeks are you going to allocate the crucial time needed to get you and your business ready for next year.

Don’t wait until the start of the year to figure out how to make it better because by then it will already be too late.

Be the smart business owner and start preparing for the year ahead now.

A vital step in preparing for the year ahead is to assess how well you did this year. What worked? What didn’t work? Will your business be able to make the journey to hit the targets that you need to hit next year? Is it strong enough to get to the next level with certainty and control and not be knocked off course along the way?

Download my updated eBook, How Strong Is Your business? Know what really makes a business strong and how to prepare for the year ahead.

Photo credit: Peter on Flickr