New Year Focus
There’s something about starting a new year that gets every business owner or team member excited. Because we see it as a new chapter with a whole host of opportunities to grow and improve.
However, before you dive headfirst into the new year - it’s super important to reflect on what the past year has brought, and how each of those things has affected your business and you as a person.
Let’s not kid ourselves, being unhappy with how certain things played out in your business last year, or what kind of clients you were dealing with, or frustrating projects you were working on can take its toll on our motivation and performance as we build into the new year.
I don’t want that for you this year. I want you to start the new year fresh and excited – with the frustrations of last year learnt from and left behind.
So, let’s do this together now. Go on… take out a pen and paper, or open a doc if you’re the techy type, and create a list of things that have marked the past year for you. Mark them with a plus or minus depending on whether you’ve found them a positive or negative experience.
What worked well? What didn’t? What will you keep doing this year? What will you stop doing? What will you do more of? What will you do less of?
Why is this a necessary exercise?
Well, first and foremost, it will help you get clear on your main focus for the new year. FOCUS is what we need for this year to be our best year yet. But, are you focusing on what’s really important? Let me give you an example of what I mean.
One of the main focus points for my coaching program clients at the start of this year is working with better clients. Most of them have recognised from doing the exercise above that they currently have clients that are sucking their time, attention and profits
And I’m sure you’re no different.
It could be that some of your clients are difficult to work with, or that they keep asking you to do work for cheaper, or that they aren’t interested in paying you what you’re really worth.
And as a consequence, they’re robbing you of the time that you could spend working for/with clients that are more rewarding (and fun to work with).
So, as a core focus for the start of this year, I encourage you to focus on identifying, grading, and sorting clients based on:
- How enjoyable to work with they are, and
- If they’re willing to pay good rates for quality work.
The logical next step is to make a plan for working more with better clients, but also phasing out involvement with clients you no longer want to work with.
You know how the saying goes: When one door closes, another one opens. So, here’s to closing some doors and opening new ones that will take the new year to another more prosperous level!
Josh 'New Year Focus' Stone
PS: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you right now:
- Join the Leaders In Engineering community designed specifically for leaders and business owners
It’s our Facebook community where leaders and business owners are learning the strategies and leadership skills to step up and thrive right now – Click Here to join
- Download our FREE PDF guide – “How To Build A High Performing & Highly Profitable Engineering Team”
Learn the skills to get the most out of the people around you. Build a high performing team that generates incredible profits and allows you to have more fun and to spend more time with the people you love – Click Here
- Book in a Catch Up
This session is designed for you and I to touch base, to get to know each other a little better and to really look at where you are now, where you want to be and then we’ll make a plan together for how to get you there! – Click Here
- Work With Us
Join our training program designed to help you focus on the core areas of growing your team, your business and yourself in the process. Together we'll work on winning work, business development & client relationships. We'll look at strategies for team performance, project performance as well as your leadership skills to motivate and get the most from the people around you. We'll also focus on your growth as a leader, effective delegation to those around you and only focusing on the strategic activities that move the needle and make the biggest difference. - Just send me an email at [email protected] with the word “PROGRAM” and I’ll get you some more information.
