End of Year Reflection for your Business

the boss guide It’s my birthday and I’m happy to celebrate with you today!!

Today is a special day for a number of reasons!

My friend and client, Alison of Alison Harper & Co is relaunching her PREP salon after a DEVASTATING storm that basically took out her building and nothing else in her town.
Today is the very last day of my Group Program Q4 Refresh. I’m so excited to have a dance party with these incredible bosses. We’ve walked through some HUGE accomplishments, big-fat mindset shifts, and drop-kicking overwhelm by using some special techniques. Did I mention I was so excited to celebrate all of them?
It’s my birthday (and I get to spend the day giving back #maryforthewin).

You know the quote, “a year from now, you’ll wish you had started today” and you started something to look back on! WOOHOO!

a year from now you'll wish you had started

Today, the topic is reflecting on a productive year.

Year End Reporting – oh so fun!

I know, you’re rolling your eyes at me. Why the heck would I think it’s fun to do year-end reporting? You hate the numbers and all the stuff you didn’t get done this year. It’s giving you that guilty feeling because maybe your finances aren’t in tip top shape. Maybe you’re sad because you didn’t get your goals started. No worries, friend.

I created a tool for you that you can customize. I created a tool that you can use that makes sense for your business. I received feedback from a number of different types of creatives (a professional chef, photographers, a social media marketer, a nutrition coach… and more!) about how they thought a document like this might benefit them!

I wanted to share a tool I’ve created JUST. FOR. YOU. and it’s so easy for you to get your paws on.

Why Should You Do a Year-End Report?

What you don’t know will scare you. You know that feeling when there’s a pile of clothes that accumulated in the corner of your room but you don’t want to go through it because you don’t know what’s involved in sorting it out? You might have to try things on, the might need to get washed, they might need to get taken to the cleaners… It’s just easier to leave it in a pile than to have to go through it. But then it’s in a pile in your room. Better to spend that time and clean it up, right? Once you clean it up, it’s nice and neat and everything is in it’s place. This is the same way for a year-end report.
You know what you accomplished! There’s SO MUCH to celebrate. Did you tackle your fear of being seen? Did you launch a website? Did you grow your instagram following by 100%? Did you make business friends that you want to keep in your tribe for ever? You’ve done so much and you should celebrate all of it. At the end of the year, it’s easy to get down in the dumps about how much left we still have to do. But doing a year end report can help to reframe all that we accomplished!
It informs you about what you can say yes/no to in the next year!
It gives you historical context. At the end of 2016, can you imagine looking at your Year-end report from 2015 and seeing your INSANE growth? You’ll be so proud of how far you’ve come and it’s fantastic to have a tool that you can report on a year from now!
Our memories suck. Ok maybe it’s just me. My memory is not what it used to be (I’m not saying I’m old, I’m just saying I have a lot stored in my brain. ha!) and I need help to refresh my brain about what the year looked like – not just what’s happening now. This tool helps me to think about what I’ve done, who I’ve hired, what I’ve learned, what trainings I’ve done. It’s a good quantitative and qualitative reflection tool.

How to use the Annual Review Executive Summary

Create time in your schedule to sit down to do some reflection. This requires some brain power and some tips down memory lane. Make room for this.
Use it however it will serve you and your business. Are you a creative type that HATES numbers? You could take out the top section and fill out only the open ended questions at the bottom. If you see the value of digging through your revenue/profit numbers, you might fill those out. You could take a look at your etsy site to see how many sales you’ve had. You can customize how you use this and document your growth.
Add questions or take out questions that don’t make sense for your business.
Write in bullet form or in paragraph form. Print it out and hand write it OR type into the document. It’s your call!
Transfer these questions into a notebook or your business journal.
Do it with an accountability buddy. Find a friend who will do some reflection with you. You can sit in a coffee shop together or sit in a google hang out with you while each of you completes her own!

This blog post has some serious homework but I swear it was made to help you!