3 Tips to Make 2012 a Success
I see a lot of women entrepreneurs who are busy ’doing’ a lot of different activities to grow their businesses. On the surface this seems all good because they’re investing energy and time.
The problem is too many times they’re not getting the results they desire for all their expended energy. This keeps their business and income stuck at the same levels, or they experience small amounts of growth.
How can you tell if you’re not getting adequate results for your invested efforts? Here’s a list of two ways to tell:
1. Your income in 2011, compared to 2010, either decreased, stayed the same, or grew less than 20%. (no whining about the economy) 
2. Your hourly fee rate decreased or did not increase (annual revenues ÷ total hours worked)
The bottom line is if you are working harder, and not gaining significant forward movement toward your goals, you probably need to change what you’re doing.
Here are 3 ways you can “change up” your activities to ensure you reach your 2012 goals:
1. Review 2011 and determine 1) what went well and CELEBRATE!, 2) what didn’t go as planned, and 3) why things didn’t go as planned.
Were you lacking support or some skills and know-how? Or, did you simply not invest the time into certain activities you could have? Diagnose the reasons so you can course correct in 2012.
2. Create your 2012 vision and goals – what do you want your business and personal life to look like 12/31/12? What personal mastery skills do you need to develop?
Be very specific. Without specifics, you may be wasting time and energy doing activities that will not move you closer to your vision and goals. Example: Are you part of a networking group that has few of your ideal clients? This time may be better invested doing something else.
3. Create your plan to make it all happen!
Your business plan needs to include an income goal and key strategies you must implement to make it all happen.
For example, this year my income goal is $300K. Key strategies I will implement to make it happen are:
1. Become more visible to my ideal clients
2. Increase traffic to my website and subscriber opt-ins
3. Increase marketing activities
Then, for each of the above three strategies I will create objectives, identify activities to do, and put a timeframe to reaching the objective.
For example, to become more visible to my ideal clients I could, 1) lead one teleseminar every week, 2) be a guest on someone else’s teleseminar every 2 weeks, 3) speak to live groups one time per week, and 4) attend two networking meetings per week.
Then, I will keep track to make sure I am investing the required time and energy to get the results I’m seeking. In my case, I am tracking achievment of my $300K income goal.
Now is the time to evaluate and review what you’re doing so you can be proactive about making necessary course corrections to achieve your 2012 goals!
