January always seems to be a little easier for us to focus on things that we might change to improve our lives, like

• how we can streamline them,
• simplify them,
• improve our health and fitness
• and just generally ensure the coming year works a little better for us than the previous one.

In addition to this normal January ‘new broom’ approach, the world has become caught up in a decluttering frenzy led by the very charming Marie Kondo encouraging us all to declutter and focus our attention on those objects that truly bring us joy and to thoughtfully discard the rest.

So let’s bring some of that thinking to your business.

I am not suggesting that you get rid of your business or even to discard parts of it, but right now is a perfect time when you are refreshed to review your business at a strategic level and see what is bringing you satisfaction, sustainability and profitability and then perhaps what needs to be discarded, changed or improved.

What are you going to focus on this year?

A great suggestion to harness some new year enthusiasm is to make some time for an offsite strategic planning day where you can focus on working ON your business, not IN it.

1. You can use this time to:

1. Define what is the core purpose of your business
   What problem in the world does your business solve for clients?
   Having a clear picture of that enables you to stay focused on your niche and develop a clear client value proposition.
2. Work out what you want your business to look like in a few years.
   This gives you some targets to help you stay focused, on track and not distracted. It actually makes life simpler because it is easier to make decisions about the various opportunities that come up from time to time. …. eg yes, that’s a good opportunity but no it doesn’t help me get the business to where I want it to be.
3. Work out what your core values are.
   This isn’t as soft & fluffy as you might initially think. It’s actually fundamental – HOW are you going to run your business to get where you want to be. What will you never sacrifice? Eg price vs speed vs quality; or customer service.
4. Research new technology – technology is improving all the time.
   Einstein famously said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing and expecting a different result. These days it’s actually insane to think that doing the same things the same way as you have always done will give you the same results, for example, if you don’t keep up with tech your competitors will overtake you and you will lose market share.So, look at how tech can improve your
   1. Customer service eg website, payment options, booking systems etc;
   2. Admin eg document management systems to handle client/customer records, templates, systems & procedures documentation etc;
   3. Hr & Payroll systems to systemise your employment contracts, policies & procedures;
   4. Marketing – use social media & digital marketing to stay front of mind with your customers.

Better still, why not get DFK Everalls to host and facilitate your Strategic Planning Day to make sure you don’t get interrupted and to make sure that you identify how potential new strategies will impact the various areas of your business?

We are highly experienced in leading strategic planning days like this with your team to help you work through the big questions with your team.

We might cover

• Examining increasing revenue by introducing a new service line
• Looking at what impact this will have on your staffing requirements
• What about marketing plan
• What new plant & equipment might be needed
• Will you need new systems & processes
• and what will be the impact on working capital to fund it