Clint Powell
Tis the season to make New Year’s resolutions. Get in better shape! Spend more time with the family! Stop saying all those bad words! Well….let’s talk in March when most folks stop using their new gym membership - that family date night reminder gets ignored (sad! Keep this one…it’s important) - and you drop a can of soup on your toe while someone is knocking on the door and your kids are arguing (insert bad words here)! That is why they say that most resolutions are made to be broken.
I can’t help with your health, your family, and certainly not the language you use, but I can make a few suggestions when it comes to New Year’s resolutions for your business. I have eight suggestions that you might want to consider and these may be worth keeping:
1) Be intentional! Success and failure are usually NOT accidental. No matter what you want to change in your business…make it so. Want to be a better manager? Read, learn, and spend time on it. Want to focus more on your marketing – then set aside time. Stop letting the business drive you…you drive the business.
2) Find your accountability person. Setting goals and appointments with yourself is great, but it is also easy to cancel those appointments or make excuses for not hitting those goals if we don’t have someone to help keep us accountable. Find your person or that team to help make sure you do what you say you are going to do.
3) Be engaged. I don’t mean with just the inside details of your business. I mean with your employees, vendors, and yes…customers. Get out and amongst the people that help make your business go.
4) Stop doing things half way. Like a lot of business owners I have a lot of good ideas (well…at least I think they are good), but I don’t have the time or personnel to implement them all. So instead of focusing on a few I could really excel in I try to do them all at once! Usually with mediocre results at best. Not acceptable. This year I am going to try to focus on one great idea at a time and really make it happen. THEN move on to the next…
5) Network…your way. Networking conjures up different things for different folks. Some folks see a room full of strangers with name tags. Some folks see a small group. I submit that it doesn’t have to be either. Networking can be much more personal and ‘warm’. Consider asking someone you know who may be connected or is better at introducing people than you are…and ask them to help you meet the right kind of people. Either way…big groups or lunches…get to know more folks!
6) Delegate and empower. Do you have a full plate? Are you always busy working ‘in’ the business and not enough time ‘on’ the business? Maybe it’s time to take a few things off your plate. Maybe it’s time to not only hire people…but actually trust them, empowered them, and then let them do their job.
7) Be mobile friendly. Is your company’s website mobile friendly. Can it be easily navigated via tablets and phones? Make it so. This is a no brainer - We are consuming data, news, and entertainment differently than we use to. That also means our message better be easily found and maneuvered through via those devices or your potential consumer will find a competitor who is prepared.
8) Work – Life balance. This may the hardest thing to do AND be the one thing that will change your business the most. The bottom line if we are happier with the important things in life (and that usually has little to do with our work)…then we will bring a happier less stressful more focused decision maker to the workplace.
The truth is we humans are very quick to cancel promises, appointments, and commitments to ourselves. That can be a problem, when we have employees, customers, vendors, and partners who depend on us to grow the business…provide could service…and be a leader. This year if you are going to make resolutions...then keep them.
Happy New Year! Now let’s go lose those 10 pounds and grow our business! See you at the gym!
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Clint Powell is owner of Connect Marketing, an advertising agency in Chattanooga. He is a graduate of Carson-Newman College. He has spent years in radio advertising sales and management, built and sold a billboard company and works on a contract basis with other ad agencies writing ad copy and helping formulate strategies. Clint has worked with hundreds of local and regional companies over the years and helped them develop advertising campaigns. He believes that life is all about connections and spends his time connecting businesses and business owners to solutions. He sits on the board of Y-Cap (YMCA Community Action Program) and helps with several other non-profits. Clint currently resides in East Ridge with his wife and three children. He also host a weekly radio show focused on business and marketing – Marketing Mix Radio on US 101 The Legend @ 96.1.