There isn’t a thing superstitious about it. At the dawn of every new year, there is inevitably a rush to join the movement to pressure ourselves, our companies and our oh-so-familiar environments by inviting change and affluence for the future: THE RESOLUTION.
Some fear the call, some scoff and some swear by it. Whether you personally find the new year’s resolution arbitrary or inspiring…in business, out of the comfort zone is where progress begins.
This is not to suggest that the Year of the Dragon is the time to resolve changing the world (also not discouraged), but rather a new beginning point to accentuate the evergreen value of bestowing attainable goals for your business.
We caught up with several businesses in various stages of development to explore their top priorities for 2012. Find out if your new year’s resolution made the list!
INVESTING IN THE VALUE OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT…
My new year’s resolution for my business in 2012 is to allow more time for
pro bono work. In 2011, we started assisting three local sustainability-focused
community groups with their website management and maintenance. We started
doing this primarily for personal reasons – I get personal value from
supporting non-profits whose missions I believe in and I want my business
to reflect that value. To a lesser degree it’s for business reasons as well
- many of our clients have indicated that our community activity was a
small factor in hiring us, and we have received a number of referrals from
our pro bono clients.
Kane Jamison, Hood Web Management
GROWTH AND PASSING OF THE TORCH…
My new year’s resolution: To hire our first employee.
Mandy Williams, Red and Black Books
My New Year’s resolution for Bitnetix in 2012 is to stop being a small business worker and start being a real small business owner. I am a small business owner. Like many small business owners, I wear many, many, many hats. I don’t mind it so much, but it’s hard to wear all of the hats and do work for the company at the same time. To accomplish my goal, I need to grow the business to where it can support hiring new staff that can do the work I do today. That frees me up to work exclusively on finding new clients, cementing business relationships, network, and work on the business rather than work for the business.
Eric Lloyd, Bitnetix
FOLLOW THROUGH: PLAN OF ATTACK
Like many busy professionals, I often set lofty goals only to see
another year go by and not achieve my desired results. The problem with
this approach is that if you set a pattern of NOT achieving your goals,
you’re establishing a habit of failure. My most important new year’s resolution is to set goals and
commit to achieving them. The process begins by reverse engineering my 2012 resolutions and
breaking them down into quarterly milestones. Then I take the quarterly
milestones and chunk them down into monthly objectives and further
refine the process to weekly goals. Now that I have my weekly goals, I
review these weekly goals on a daily basis and set a plan of attack to
ensure they are accomplished.
Charles Gaudet II, Predictable Profits
TRIPLING IN SIZE AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
In order to triple in size again in 2012, we have to implement new project management protocols, create dynamic team oriented systems and encourage happiness in a high stress profession. As a leader, my resolution to the company and myself is to seek advanced training in acquiring these skills, then sharing them with my employees for their individual benefit and the improvement of our community.
Ben Cooke, Lucid Public Relations
LOOKING PAST THE OBVIOUS
Be creative and do what your competitors haven’t thought of. Listen and learn from the success of others.
Vince Morvillo, Speaker
SIT DOWN…TOGETHER
We’re a PR agency and actually sat down and wrote out [our new year's resolutions] pertaining to how we can adapt to the changing professional landscape and be better at what we do.
Chris Lyman, Lyman PR
ENHANCE CULTURE
My new years resolution is to create a stronger company culture and motivation thereby enhancing our performance and retaining top talent.
Gabriel Shaoolian, Blue Fountain Media
Did you relate to any of the above resolutions? Let us know what you’re planning for the Year of the Dragon in the comments!
