10 Practices for Every Small Business Owner 2023

Written By She Ventures

As a year ends and a new one begins, we can create a new reality. As business owners, we do not need to wait for these finite points for renewal because our work is a continuous evolution. We are responding to better meet the needs of the world around us daily and those we serve through our products, services, and offerings. The work of any entrepreneur, self-employed person, and small business owner is continuous.

The following practices can be done at any given point in the year, yet they are vital at the start of the year to help you be intentional with your work and actions and clear on what you hope to make possible. 

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

10 Practices to set you and your business up for success in 2023.

1.0 Let Go and Reset

Before we can add more to our list, we need a moment to take note of what needs to be taken off our plate physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is an opportunity to look inward at ourselves and our businesses and determine what gets to stay and what needs to be set free. Some questions to consider during this process are:

  • What worked well for me and my business in 2022?

  • What didn’t work well or didn’t go as planned?

  • What do I wish I had done this past year differently? 

  • What was I most proud of this year for myself and my business?

  • What can I let go of to move forward with freedom and creativity into the new year?

2.0 Pause and Reflect

A pause can be more powerful than another step. Before going into action mode, take a moment to be with yourself. Being a business owner is no easy feat, be sure to celebrate and acknowledge your efforts, your trials, and potential failures along the way. Use this exercise to connect with how you want to feel running your business this next year.

Consider if there is an opportunity to:

  • Integrate more self-care

  • Leverage your team

  • Invest in technology to help you do more with less

  • Evaluate your overall work environment—maybe it is time to invest in a co-working or physical space for your business

3.0 Reconnect with Your WHY

Our WHY is what gets us through the hard times. Take a moment to reconnect with your mission, vision, and WHY you do what you do. HOW your business will operate and deliver its products, services, and offerings will be an ongoing evolution, yet your WHY will be your constant. 

4.0 Set Your Annual Intentions for You and Your Business

Intention setting differs from goal setting. Goals are tied to concrete metrics, and every business needs to have these to evaluate quarter on quarter. Intention setting aligns with our values and how we want to feel and operate. When we solely focus on goal setting, we can lose ourselves in that process and lose alignment with our overall WHY. When we integrate our intentions into our goal-planning process, we keep a connection to our values and the feeling we want to have as we achieve success. After all, what is 'success' if we experience burnout or our team is burned out? Intentions allow business owners to connect to a higher purpose than their daily tasks.

5.0 Synch Your Business Plan/Strategy to Your Intentions

Look at your existing business plan, business canvas, and communication strategy, comparing how they align with your intentions above. Treat these business documents as live, not static, pieces of work that get revisited regularly. Make sure your day-to-day operations align with your higher vision and long-term goals. The energy we spend in our planning process has much power to carry us through executing our plans. One example is your social media strategy and being intentional in sharing your mission and vision in your posts, imagery, and messaging throughout the year. It connects your customers to your brand and purpose beyond your products, services, and offerings--helping build loyalty over time.

6.0 Have a Heart-to-Heart with your Accountant

Your accountant/bookkeeper/financial consultant should be someone you can trust and strategize with regularly. It is essential to reconcile 2022 with them and plan for the year ahead. Your accountant can help you set up better financial practices so that looking at and understanding your financial position becomes more accessible and enjoyable. Knowledge is power. Every business owner needs to invest time, energy, and resources in understanding how money works and how it can work better for them and their business. Have an open and honest conversation with your accountant about areas of your business you are unclear about, clarify any other potential tax benefits available to you, and revisit your current financial structure and practices to optimize them. Share your vision and goals so they can be part of your accountability team in helping you achieve financial success. 

7.0 Bring Your Team in and Communicate

Share your vision. Call in your team and take them through your process, and even better, include them in developing new strategies and adjustments to your business plans. In all my years of consulting, I have seen teams outperform goals in situations where they feel they are 'part of the plan,' not just an employee. This process is not simply an end-of-year or beginning one; the opportunity exists to collaborate with your team in defining the course of your business throughout the year. Be clear about what success looks like, the benefits to the team if specific metrics are achieved, and the impact you can all have in how you serve your customers and the world around you. Let this be an energizing and creative gathering to help bring your intentions and goals to life. 

8.0 Break it Up into Bite-Sized Chunks

We do not climb up the mountain in one giant leap but a series of slow and steady steps. It can be overwhelming for anyone to look at big yearly goals. However, we achieve a big goal or vision with consistency, determination, and a good plan. First, develop a quarterly or monthly picture of your operational plan and designate metrics to measure success. Next, drive clarity and alignment for your team and allow everyone, including yourself, to buy into a path forward. Then create space to celebrate the little victories along the way. Finally, help boost morale and energy with cumulative acknowledgments of your efforts.

9.0 Set Up a Process to Check-in

You and your business are a work in progress. Take the initiative to set up points for reevaluation throughout the year and communicate those with your team, consultants, freelancers, etc. These points should align with individual evaluation processes as well. The path forward will all depend on the size and stage of your business--If you are starting out, set up milestones for your launch and evaluate the launch and path forward. If you are already up and running, a quarterly or mid-year evaluation might do. Be sure to check in with yourself and your team to give yourself enough time and space to course correct and pivot if necessary throughout the year.

10. Commit and Don't Forget Self-Care. 

Commitment is a critical component of success, as is self-care. The two do go hand in hand as a business owner. If your self-care deteriorates, you will not be able to deliver on your commitments. It is easy to forget this as the daily business demands pile up. We have to believe in what we are committing to as business owners; otherwise, we cannot expect anyone else to believe in what we are doing either, customers, team, and community included. A resilient business starts with a resilient you!

 
 

Remember, you are capable of more than you think. Believe in yourself, and never give up on your dreams and your vision for your business, regardless of the size and current stage. 2023 is your year to make it happen. We all have to start somewhere— take that first intentional step today.

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This post was sponsored by AT&T BUSINESS, but the opinions are our own and don’t necessarily represent AT&T Business’s positions or strategies.

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