5 Entrepreneurs Share Their Strategies for Success In The New Year
Are you determined to make 2013 your best year in business? This is the time of year to reflect on all the moving parts of your business and decide what you need to do to propel your company forward and create future growth in 2013. Wondering where your business needs the most help? Check out what other entrepreneurs are doing and where they recommend you focus your time.
Grow Your Business With Confident Delegation: Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, suggests, “When employees tell you about their good ideas for the business, don’t limit your response to asking questions, taking notes and following up. If you can, ask those people to lead their projects and take responsibility for them. From those experiences, they will then have built the confidence to take on more and you can take a further step back. Stepping back frees the founder to focus on the bigger picture — to dive in when there are problems or to help close a deal. This is how I manage our diversified group: I am not involved in the daily business of any Virgin company, unless I need to be.” Read more on Entrepreneur magazine, Richard Branson on the Art of Delegation.
Encourage & Elicit Negative Feedback: Liz Lange, founder of the Liz Lange fashion line, states “You hired people for a reason, no one knows/cares about your business more than they do. Sometimes it’s hard in the formal work environment to tell your boss what you really think. Instead of the traditional holiday party, take small groups of employees out for more intimate meals or drink and really talk to them, find out what they think you could be doing better. Same goes for your customers. As much as I love getting customer fan mail, I really appreciate critical emails from customers too.” Read More on Forbes.com, My Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for Entrepreneurs.
Educate And Cross Train Your Employees: From Donna Gary, founder of ClientTickler: “Speak with your employees about how you can help them be more efficient, how can we all step up our game and be an A+ business. Send your employees to seminars and continued education to improve their job skills and help them grow professionally. Remember that if you invest in them, they will invest in you!” Read more on Nerd Wallet, New Year’s Resolutions for Small Businesses.
Set Incremental Digital Marketing Goals: Susan Payton, founder of Egg Marketing and Communications, recommends “When you make resolutions, set concrete goals. If you simply say you want to increase sales, even a $5 increase over the year would qualify you as having achieved the goal.” No matter where you are in your digital media marketing, there are steps to take your brand to the next level. Be specific and create action items for your goals. Do you want improve your blog, reach new customers and increase website traffic? Create a quick editorial calendar 3 months out with blog topics (1x per month or more) so when you sit down to write, you don’t have to think about it. If you want to expand your reach, commit to writing 2 guest posts per month to target new audiences. If you’re looking to kick up your social media marketing, consider starting out the year with a creative social media contest. Read more on Open Forum, 5 New Year’s Resolutions For Your Business.
Optimize Your Business For Mobile: Nellie Akalp, CEO and Owner of CorpNet, says “By 2015, more U.S. Internet users will access the web through mobile devices than through PCs. On average, 15% of all searches on Google today are from a mobile device. How well are you catering to this mobile population?” Have you optimized your website for mobile browsing and searching? What about your emails? Your company newsletter should also be optimized for mobile viewing. The Gartner Survey Highlights Top Five Daily Activities on Media Tablets found that 74% of smartphone owners use their devices to check their email. Read more on Mashable, Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business Owners.
Once you’ve got your goals set for the New Year, make sure your entire company is on board. Whether you’re a team of 2 or 200, everyone should know what you’re focusing on and how you plan on achieving your goals; they should also understand their role in helping the company succeed. The Workbar team wishes you and your business lots of success in the New Year!
About the Author: Evona Niewiadomska is the Events and Digital Media Manager at Workbar. As of January 2013 she is an independent Digital Media & Design Creative with a specialty for infographic design and social media strategy. Check out her website, evonawiktoria.com or contact her via email evona.wiktoria@gmail.com or twitter @evonawiktoria.
About Workbar:
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