Summer is a great time of year for most businesses to pause for just a little while to take stock, congratulate yourself on what you’ve accomplished so far this year, and make big plans for your future. Here are five summertime strategies to help you regroup, reassess, and rejuvenate your business.
1. Mid-Year Review
If your business runs by the calendar year, 2014 is already more than half over. This is a perfect time to stop and reflect where you’ve been, what you’ve accomplished, and where you want to go next. You can make this process as informal or formal as you want. Some firms hold complex retreats; you may simply need some quiet time on a weekend where all your family is busy doing something else.
If you’ve never done any planning and feel like you need a guide, consider the book, The One-Page Business Plan written by Jim Horan.
2. Take a Vacation
There’s nothing better to rekindle your creative juices than to get away from the business for a while. Summertime is when most people take vacation, so if your business is not having its busy season, this might be a good time to go away for a while.
If you’re anxious about being away from your business, you’re not alone. In your annual planning process, plan for and block out your vacation time way ahead of time. Book the reservations with no refunds several months in advance so that you won’t chicken out at the last minute. There is life beyond your business, and you will be a better business owner when you take regular breaks away.
3. Celebrate
Take time to pat yourself on the back and congratulate the people around you for the goals you’ve reached and the efforts your team has made on your behalf. We all could use more praise and more celebrations in our lives. Perhaps you can organize a party, or if you are not the partying type, a quiet word individually with your team can go a long way, maybe more than you know.
4. Prune Your Projects
Is your plate too full? Most of us would say “yes” to that question, so the next step is to ask yourself what you can afford to stop doing that doesn’t make sense. Is there a project or two that can wait? If so, decide to stop stressing about not getting it done and give yourself permission to put it on the back burner for now.
5. Focus
Ask yourself what one thing you could do today that will make all the difference in your profits, revenues, goals, or simply peace of mind. And get that thing done.
Try these five summertime tips to rejuvenate your business.