8 Questions to Consider when Reviewing your Business

There is such a different energy in the air when spring and summer roll around isn’t there? You know, longer days, bluer skies, warmer weather.

In New Zealand we are lucky, I think, that this change of season also occurs at the end of the calendar year. 

Our bodies and minds are re-energised by this newness, and our businesses can be too. 

When we're coming to the end of one year and about to start a new year afresh, it is a great time to think about what next.

The following questions are designed to get you thinking about this very thing. I would suggest that you take some time to think about the answers and to write them down, as a way of starting to plan for the coming year.  Print this out even, if you need to. Grab a journal and a beverage and give yourself the gift of thinking and planning time.

Here we go: 

1. What do you want your business to look and feel like, this time next year?

   • Get as clear as possible around this. See if you can imagine the type of people around you, your office or workspace, the environment, the culture, the way you feel.

2. If your business has been experiencing organic growth, then is it reasonable to expect that it will continue to do so? If so, what does that mean for your business in the coming year? 

   • Do you need to think about bringing on extra resources? Another bookkeeper to help you manage the workload?
   • Do you need better systems so that you’re working as efficiently as possible?

3. If your business has been a bit sluggish this year, do you need to up your marketing game so you can get more clients? 

   • Do you need to create a marketing plan that you can stick to?
   • Do you need to step outside of your comfort zone and start showing up more online, in videos and social media posts?
   • Do you need to join a networking group like BNI?

4. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by it all, with never enough time in the day, what needs to change?

   • What systems and plans can you put in place to make better use of your time? 
   • Are you time chunking? Are you scheduling? Are you prioritising?

5. If business is good - i.e. you're busy - but you don’t seem to be making enough money, what do you need to do to improve your profit and to get paid?

   • Do you need to think about raising your prices?
   • Do you need to track your time better to ensure you're not giving away time?
   • Do you need to look at your terms of trade and debt collection processes?
   • Do you need to get rid of some less-than-ideal clients who don't pay you on time and always quibble about your rates?

6. If you’ve got a team working for you, how are you going at being the leader that they need?

   • Do they have the support and resources that they need to do their job well?
   • Do YOU have the support and resources that YOU need to be a better leader?

7. What’s your mindset like?

   • Do you have confidence and belief in yourself and your ability to build the business in a way that works for you?
   • Do you often wonder what's the point of all this and that you may as well just go and get a job?
   • On a scale of 1-10, how passionate are you about your business? What would make it a 10?

8. What would you change about your business?

   This is the magic wand question. As in, if you had a magic wand, what would you change about your business?

   Phrasing the question in this way means that our mind removes any self-imposed limitations and this is important when it comes to vision and goal setting.

   It's also easier. We can usually create a list rather quickly of all the things that we'd like to change, all the things that annoy us or frustrate us about our business. We know these things.

   Keep the magic wand idea firmly in mind when you do this exercise.

Hopefully, this exercise will have given you some clarity about what you'd like to achieve with your business and what to focus on to make your goals a reality.

These are all things we delve into, in some detail, in my business coaching for bookkeepers programme, From Bookkeeper to Business Owner.  If you want to transform your bookkeeping business with profit and growth systems to unlock more time, freedom, and money, then get in touch to see if From Bookkeeper to Business Owner is right for you.