Reflecting and Planning
Well here we are a week into the New Year I hope you all had a wonderful time and had some time to relax.
Welcome back to ‘normal’ business.
Over the Christmas break I like to spend some time reflecting upon the last year and planning for the future.
Like a lot of businesses my financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March. However, as we enter a new calendar year my head automatically goes back to the last calendar year and I think about what I have done and achieved and also what I didn’t do!!
Whilst reflecting back I feel I achieved a lot last year including:-
-Launching a new website. This was exciting as the existing site had been insitu since 2004 – slightly out of date to say the least. It was great working with Paul and his team at WebOrchard, they had a massive amount of patience and understanding which is appreciated – my head doesn’t work in pictures so it took some doing and would have been impossible without their support.
-Worked on developing the business into new areas – more about that soon.
-Increased our client base and turnover as planned. Proudly I have hit targets in both areas with a few months of the financial year remaining.
Along with lots of smaller behind the scenes tasks we had set.
So what didn’t I do?
I failed miserably progressing Social Media posts…. and news items on our website so they are high priority for this year. Its not my favorite area of the business so I am naughty and do slide it down the list a little!
So Whats Ahead
January is a busy month both working with clients and for ourselves. In the first few weeks of January I always:
- Check to make sure my Tax Return is in and paid. Even though I know it is, I always double check to ensure payments have been allocated correctly to my account. If you haven’t done yours yet remember the deadline for submission and payment is 31 January 2019. Don’t get caught out and be late as you will receive a fine!
- Make contact with all clients to check they are on top of their tax returns and provide assistance with book-keeping/information to accountants as needed.
- I also like to re-visit my budgeting and business plan I set, as well I start to look at forecasting for the next year. Its quite an exciting year ahead having trialed some new services to offer. I have also developed some new working systems for clients which I am looking to implement to ensure clients can make some more cost savings within their businesses.
Well that was my Christmas break – Do you do the same kind of thing? Or do you make the most of relaxation time?