Ten New Year’s Resolutions for Women Entrepreneurs

Do you set New Year’s resolutions?  When I was younger, I used to, faithfully.  Like so many other people, I’d set a lofty goal and have enormous passion for achieving something big in the coming year.  Then inevitably, around March, I’d realize that I’d not made any appreciable progress and I’d feel either discouraged or guilty.  Somewhere along the line, I kind of gave resolutions up.

Until a few years ago, that is, when I truly understood that what you focus on is what gets done.  Your mind is a powerful tool and when you focus it, it can help you create amazing results.  But if you’re not focused?  Watch out – because then everyone else who IS focused will start setting your priorities for you! 

The key to success with resolutions, therefore, is to set meaningful goals for yourself and keep them in front of you every single day – so they stay in focus.  Create a page in your day planner that you look at each morning.  Write them on the white board in your office.  However you do it, reminding yourself every morning of your big dream goals is a powerful way to ensure you keep moving toward them.

What are some powerful resolutions you might consider this year?  After interviewing thousands of women and entrepreneurs in my career, here are some of the common themes I’ve heard that might be great resolutions this year. 

This year, I’ll take better care of myself.

If you’re like most women, you wear a lot of different hats.  Mother, sister, daughter, wife, volunteer, professional, boss, business owner.  Odds are, in most of these areas, you’re taking care of other people.  Every day, you give the wonderful gift of your energy, love, attention, and time to others.

But where do all the energy, love, and attention you give come from?  If you regularly feel depleted, stressed, tired, or irritable with all those people you’re taking care of, that’s a sure sign you’re not taking care enough of yourself.  So add yourself to the list of people you’re taking care of and put yourself at the top -- because unless you take the time to really recharge your own batteries, you won’t have the power to keep taking care of others. 

This year, I’ll create a business plan – and stick to it.

What do you want from your business this year?  When I had the “corporate job,” every December I’d sit with my boss and set my sales goals for the coming year.  We’d review each customer account:  What did they buy this year?  What has changed in their business or our ability to serve them?  What new opportunities exist?  What support do I need to be successful in growing this account?

Just because you’re in your own business now doesn’t mean you should stop setting these kinds of goals.  In fact, it’s even more important, because the success of the business lies entirely with you!  So set aside some quiet time to critically review the performance of your business this year (whether by customer or by product line).  Ask yourself what you expect to happen in the coming year if nothing changes and consider the opportunities you could take advantage of.  Look at the cost side too – where did you overspend?  Or, did you under-spend by not hiring any help and therefore you couldn’t handle all the business that could have come your way? 

Set some goals for your business.  Envision December 31, 2008 and how much money you want to have made.  Backtrack your way to building the goals that will get you there.  And during the year, at least once a month, get out that business plan and see how you’re doing on each of those goals to maintain your focus.

This year, I’ll get my financial house in order.

Collectively, American consumer debt (not including mortgages) totals nearly $2.5 trillion dollars.  Although many households do pay off their debts each month, according to the Federal Reserve, the typical family’s credit card balance is now almost 5% of their annual income.  Whether you have debt or not, however, being a business owner can complicate financial matters because your personal income may fluctuate dramatically from month to month or may not be high enough to support your household. 

So this year, resolve to get organized financially.  Sit down and assess how much money you really need to support your lifestyle.  Create a household budget that you review monthly to keep yourself afloat.  Do the same for your business and watch how the two budgets interrelate to create your total financial picture.  Plan for large expenses in both budgets (tuition, vacation, investing in the business, paying your taxes, etc.) and set the money aside so you have it.  And budget for a good accountant to help you.  He or she can help you critically review your finances, keep your taxes in check, and plan for a strong financial year.

This year, I’ll invest in my own education.

Learning is great for your brain, keeps you young, and keeps you growing.  When you were in school, you had a planned system to help you learn new things. 

Now that you’re an adult, you can still keep learning – and you have the freedom to set your own learning priorities.  Set a learning goal for yourself this year and invest in your education.  Want to learn more about finances?  Marketing?  Website design?  Buy relevant books, attend seminars or conferences, check out the courses at your local university.

This year, I’ll learn to say “no.”

A common challenge I hear from women entrepreneurs is that they say “yes” to everything.  As a result, their personal priorities get lost in the monstrous to do list.  If this is a challenge for you, resolve to learn to say no.  Not to everything, of course, just to those things that really don’t fit your priorities and plans – the things you used to say yes to out of guilt or fear of what other people might think.

Here’s a great strategy to help you create the space you need not to respond with a “kneejerk” yes when the school calls and asks you to bake 100 cupcakes for the bake sale on Friday.  Say this, “Thanks for the call.  I have a meeting starting in just a minute, but when that’s over I’ll check my calendar and call you back to let you know if I can help this week.”  Remarkably, the same strategy works with the client who calls and says, “Can you get me revisions to the XYZ report by tomorrow morning instead of Wednesday like we’d planned?”

When you get off the phone, take a deep breath.  Decide if it’s realistic to have the report edited or the cupcakes baked.  Decide if you want to do those things.  If the answer is that the report timeframe is unrealistic or you’re too busy to do cupcakes this week, the answer is “no.”  So plan your message, call them back, and tell them no.  They’ll respect you for it as long as they know you have their best interests at heart.

This year, I’ll lean a little.

Are you the kind of person who has to do it all yourself?  Taking care of everyone else but not letting anyone take care of you?  A good friend of mine taught me that friendship is a TWO-way street.  Friendship is complete when you allow the other person to give you as much as you give them.

So this year, let people who care about you help you.  Lean on them sometimes.  Let your friend pick up your kids from school when you’re double-booked (because you know you’ve done it for her).  Let your husband help stock the shelves or work with you on your budget.  Ask another business owner to share with you some of the secrets of her success so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel all on your own.  People will feel great having the chance to help you.

This year, I’ll leverage other people’s time.

How many hours do you spend each week doing those things that you have a special gift for vs. those things that “have” to be done?  If you are a wonderful graphic artist, do you spend most of your time designing?  Or are you getting bogged down in sending the invoices, answering the phones, driving to FedEx, cleaning your house?  Instead of doing these other things, center your work time around doing what you do best and enlist other people to help with the rest. 

How many extra hours of design work would you have to do to hire someone to come clean your house once a week?  To hire a bookkeeper to do the invoicing for you?  If you filled your time with exercising your unique talents, odds are you would be able to afford getting help with the things that just aren’t fun for you -- and you’ll feel more fulfilled in the process.

This year, I’ll create systems.

One of the keys to being able to successfully leverage other people’s time is to document the systems you want used.  Are you particular about how your phone is answered?  Write a script and someone else will be able to do it your way.  How do you organize your filing?  Write down your system so someone else can do the filing for you.  Do you receive a ton of email?  Create a system of different email accounts to manage the topics and create standardized replies to frequent email types so someone can help you manage the flow.  You can have it done your way – as long as you document what your way is!

This year, I’ll confidently ask for business and referrals.

You have a special set of talents that make you incredibly good at what you do.  One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself this year is to believe that.  Recognize that when you are pursuing new business, you’re not asking people to do you a favor – you are helping them meet their goals!  You’re sharing your unique gifts with them.  So ask for the business, because they’ll be glad they worked with you.  And when they are, make sure to ask for testimonials and referrals.  If you’ve done good work for them, they’ll want to help you become even more successful.

This year, I’ll act!

Do you ever have those days where the “to do list” is so long and you have no idea where to begin?  This feeling of overwhelm can be crippling and result in you procrastinating all day and not getting much of anything done.  Of course, that only compounds the problem, making sure you’re even farther behind tomorrow.

So this year, resolve to banish the procrastination habit.  How?  First, acknowledge the feeling.  (Yes, I am feeling very overwhelmed right now.)  Next, remind yourself you’ve pulled through before.  (I’ve felt overwhelmed before, and I know eventually I’ll work through this.)  Finally, choose one small item from your list – and complete it.  Cross it off.  Appreciate yourself for doing it, and then choose another small item. 

As my friend, Steve Lappan, often says, “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.”  Instead of worrying about all you have to do and letting that bog you down, this year resolve to choose just one small item and act.  By doing this over and over, you’ll find you’ve achieved quite a lot at the end of the day – and that sets the tone for an even more successful tomorrow.

There are a lot of resolutions here, but for now, just choose one thing. One thing you want to get really great at in 2008. Put your resolution right in front of you each day. Focus on it first thing in the morning … and celebrate what you did to move it forward every evening. Take time to celebrate your successes and before you know it, your resolution will become a part of who you are.