It’s 2010 and it’s time to set your goals for the next year, both professionally and personally. We came up with a few for entrepreneurs and franchisees, and also found a great list from Entreprenuer.com worth sharing. Please comment and tell us what YOU plan to do to kick off a new decade of business success!
Great 2010 Goals for Franchise Business Owners
- NETWORK.
Devote 30-45 min a day to networking and marketing your business. This can just be updating your profiles on social networks, attending luncheons or setting up coffee meetings with other potential business leaders. - MAKE the ASK.
Use the new year as an excuse to set up meetings with potential clients you haven’t talked to in awhile. Create a template email and just personalize with the client name and relevant info. Always remember to make “the ask” – Get them to give you 10 minutes to give a presentation about your business, to meet you for lunch or more information to build into a formal pitch for their specific business. - MOTIVATE your employees for 2010.
If the holiday season got crazy, take the time to lay out a roadmap for future growth in 2010. Share your goals for the company for the next year, and give real numbers, like a benchmark from 2009 that you’d like to beat this year. Solicit their opinions of what could be improved or their own career goals. Don’t be afraid to get personal. Sometimes helping an employee with one of her goals, like giving flex time so she can spend an extra hour a week with her grandkids, will engender deep loyalty to you and the company. - Give yourself DEADLINES and break into achievable milestones.
If you goal is to cultivate and bring on three new franchisees this year, set a deadline of one a quarter. Make yourself set two meetings a month with potential franchisors. Keep a fresh calendar specifically for this goal, separate from your day-to-day To Do list. - DIVEST yourself of 2009.
Part of starting anew is getting over the past. Though 2009 was a rocky year for many, check it off your list. Take a day off just for you – not family time, spouse time or catch up at the office time – actual mental time off for you to regroup. A business is only as strong as its leader, and your positive mindset will encourage others to set off in pursuit of an awesome 2010.
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Last year, Entrepreneur.com featured wise words from business leaders. Many still work today, so we thought we’d share a few… Check them out:
Don’t lose your optimism and opportunism. Someone has to be opportunistic in this market and if entrepreneurs can’t do it, who can? There’s still room for optimism.
Startup Financing
Asheesh Advani
Get more traffic. Convert more traffic. Sell more to existing customers. Put everything you can on autopilot.
Focus on planning as management. It’s not just a plan, but a planning process including regular plan reviews with course corrections. Note changed assumptions in order to steer your business through constant change without losing sight of the long-term goals; which is, in a nutshell, getting back to the fundamentals of planning, or “plan-as-you-go” planning.
I think mompreneurs should make just one resolution in 2009: Be present in whatever you do. When you’re working, don’t answer the home phone, change out the laundry, etc. When you’re with your children, truly be with them. Don’t answer e-mails, sort through your mail and check your phone when you’re spending time with your children. And when the best plans fall through, just laugh.
Resolve to make 2009 the year for building relationships with customers and influencers as well as offering the best value–because in a tough economic year, we’ll all choose to spend our limited dollars with the people and companies we know and trust.
If you’ve been thinking about buying a franchise, make 2009 the year to stop pondering and start researching. Read everything you can about franchising, make lists of what concepts interest you, get Franchise Disclosure Documents, talk to franchisees and franchisors, look into your financing options and start taking legitimate steps toward buying the franchise that’s right for you. Many franchisees are succeeding even in this economy and will continue to succeed in 2009, but risks are arguably higher and preliminary research is more important than ever. Resolve to start this year by launching into your own in-depth, full-force franchise research.
*Get your conversation started. Sign up and learn by doing. I’m talking about Twitter and Facebook. Using social media can be the biggest impact for your business in 2009.
HAPPY NEW YEAR from the COMFORT KEEPERS BLOG TEAM!
