In this video we’ll give you tips on how to conduct a pretty thorough review of 2021 to set yourself up for success in 2022. But first, why? Why should you be looking back on the past year and pulling revenue numbers and seeing if you hit your goals? This could be an entire series of videos, but simply put, seeing everything you’ve done at a bird’s eye view will help you identify what you can improve upon, simple as that. And to be honest, the first time people do this, they are both shocked at how much they accomplished, but more importantly, how much more they can actually do. So let’s dive in. 

First, what did you create this year? This can look different based on your business like, what were your products, what did you sell, what did you publish? Sit back and list every product, creation, and publication you sold or shared this year. This will help with a later step, but just soak it in. Is this more than you thought? Less?

Second, how did you do? Next to each product or blog post, jot down some metrics like how many purchases you had, how many unique readers on your blogs posts, views on a video, revenue per product. What this does is allows you, at your birds eye view, to really see which items were most popular, which ones fell short, and which ones were worth your time and worth repeating. What did you spend the most time on? How did it compare with your most successful campaigns? These questions will start to get the wheels turning on our process for planning next year’s efforts.

Third, pull some financial data. And yes, I know, “more data”, and to some it’s boring and mundane, but it's vital for a growing business. It’s important to know where you stand financially at the end of the year. This will help you pay any balances or debts, see if others owe you, see how your year compares to ones in the past, and also has the bonus of getting you ready for tax season. Additionally as a bit of a step 3.5, check your list of expenses like operating expenses, product cost, and all outflowing money and compare it against your income. Double check to make sure you know where every dollar is going so you have a clear way forward in 2022. 

Fourth, double check your vendors. A lot can change in a year, especially contact information, let alone the amount of businesses that were affected by the pandemic. Reach out to all of the contacts or vendors that are vital to running your business to ensure that they can be contacted and relied on next year. 

Fifth, backup everything. While this is good practice throughout the year, this must be done once a year and what better time to do it than the new year. I’m talking all files, contacts, information; everything should have a place both in the cloud and on an external hard drive.

Okay, so in five steps, you’ve begun to put a bow on 2021. Now this is just scratching the surface, but is it more than you would have done? Unfortunately, I know the answer is yes for a lot of you. So how do we move forward with this information? 

This sounds cliche, but mix these numbers with a polished mission, vision and values, and you’ll set yourself up for a game changing year for your business. Ask yourself this, how many of your products or publications were moving you towards a specific goal? DId you even have a goal at the beginning of this year? Now, Imagine if everything you did was for the same goal, moved you in the same direction? How many items on your list pulled you in a 1000 different directions? Wouldn’t it be great if they only pulled you in 5 directions and you actually made real progress in those areas? We’ll publish more tips on forming your mission and vision for your business, but today, at year’s end, these are the things you should begin to consider. 

Take these as a solid starting point to wrap up your year and prepare for next year and stay tuned in the new year for tips and tricks to make next year your best year yet. From all of us here at Privy, have a safe and happy holiday season and we’ll see you next year!