The holidays are upon us! Once Thanksgiving comes and goes, you know the year 2005 is done. This time of year offers a great opportunity to reflect on the passing year and if you haven't already set up or tweaked your 2006 goals, I have some ideas for you to mull over. When I think about some of the successes my company has experienced within this last year, I couldn't help but to think about some of the failures I've gone through. And it's not because I didn't want to enjoy those positive things that have happened but, because I wanted to evaluate what I may have changed, consciously or subconsciously, that may have contributed to the good fortune I was receiving. Learning from your own mistakes is smart, but learning from other peoples' mistakes is genius.

So, here's the first five things I did differently or better during this last year and a half that helped me add 15 new members to my family roster, and increase our revenue by 155%...

1. Research your industry. Expertise does not happen overnight

Knowledge about the primary industry your business exists in, is crucial to your continued success. Every industry has ebbs and flows, changing standards and levels of information that can affect your ability to communicate with your customer, compete with the next business and develop your company's niche. Consistently researching the status of your industry, will keep you up on the latest developments or can provide you the opportunity to innovate the latest development.

2. Formulate a financial and strategic plan for your business

In my first business, my partner and I didn't have a laid out financial or strategic plan. We had clients we worked with and got paid for our services but, without a clear financial plan and business strategy, we were destined to eventually burn out. Organizing how many clients you want within a certain time period or how much revenue you want to bring in is the first step to making it happen. When your business and financial goals are in writing it is harder to ignore and easier to focus on achieving.

3. Identify your target and your marketing strategy

We knew who we wanted to work with as clients, but because we didn't set up and discuss various ways to reach them and other ancillary markets we missed out on many opportunities to gain a new client. If you don't have a business partner, bounce ideas off an advisor, or other knowledgeable person in your field, about why may need your product and/or service and how you can market yourself to those people.

4. Stay on top of your organization, company and client information

Paperwork, reports and database upkeep...these are things that are constantly an issue for entrepreneurs. Administrative tasks are important and shouldn't be overlooked. For our previous business, we had a filing system to separate our receipts, contracts, client projects and other important information. We set up a database of our contacts and their information using Microsoft Access and we also utilized QuickBooks for our business expenses and budgets. This software was real important for tax time because it would create automatic reports for our accountant to use. So, investing in something as simple as a file cabinet and business accounting software can help you stay on top of your financial objectives, client trends and information and the overall health of your business. If you are financially geared to, you can hire an administrative assistant or virtual assistant to help with the organizing of your paperwork.

5. Have a GOOD team working with you

Many entrepreneurs are one-woman or one-man shows but, no matter how many are at the helm, every business benefits from having an informative team behind it. People such as an advisor, accountant, lawyer and business manager can help keep you focused, in line with your legal obligations and moving forward positively. Sometimes when we're building our businesses, we're so close to it we can make decisions subjectively or based on emotions; but when you can run an idea or situation by a professional on your team, you will allow yourself to make a better, more educated decision.

Come back next time and find out the 5 more lessons you can't afford NOT to learn..... PART II: coming next month

Ciao!

Danny