Five Tips to Prepare for 2013

I love end-of-year planning. Heck, I love planning in general. (The special report for December on BeAResumeWriter.com is on planning and goal setting!)

Taking just a little bit of time at the end of the year to prepare for the next can make a tremendous difference. I'm one of those people who believes strongly in the idea of writing down your goals as a way of making them come true. In the next few weeks, I will be creating my plan for 2013, including the goals I hope to accomplish.

Don't just meander into the next year. Launch into it with gusto and purpose. These five ways of preparing will help you start your new year off with a bang.

#1: Extract Lessons from Last Year
Reflect on 2012. What were your biggest wins and your biggest losses? What made those wins or losses happen? Look for core lessons that you can take away. What can you learn from your mistakes? What changes do you need to make in your resume writing business to maximize your successes?

#2: Talk to Your Mentors
The end of one year — or the beginning of the next year — is a great time to talk to your mentors. Reach out to people who are more successful than you, or people who've done what you want to do. Talk to them about your greatest challenges, as well as what they'd do in your situation to grow your company. Incorporate their advice into your plan for the year. (I'm always happy to talk with resume writers who have specific questions or need advice!)

#3: Talk to Your Customers
Ask your resume customers for feedback on your service or your products. Talk about what they like and what they don't like. Also ask them about what they'd like to see from your company in the future. (Are they interested in learning more about LinkedIn? Do they want more support from you than the occasional resume update?) Your customers can be your best source of new ideas going into the new year. After all, the only real vote in business that counts is when your customers "vote with their wallets."

 #4: Identify Your Biggest Opportunity
Don't focus on your biggest challenges. There are always going to be fires that need to be put out and emergencies to be handled. Instead, focus on your biggest opportunity. Identify the biggest growth potential arena in your business, then focus the bulk of your time and energy on growing that arena. (For example, one of the biggest threats to a single self-employed resume writer is if something happens to you and you can't work. So putting in passive income/recurring revenue programs before you need them is a HUGE opportunity!)

#5: Set Measurable, Metric-Based Goals
Finally, set measurable, metric-based goals for yourself/your resume writing business. Ideally, you should set one BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). This can be a revenue number or a number of clients you want to stretch to reach!

If you perform these five steps, you'll plunge head first into 2013 well prepared and positioned for success!