As another year starts, plenty of us will be making mental plans for 2024. The holiday season is a great opportunity to draw a line on what’s gone before and look ahead, refreshed and energised Out with the old, in with the new and all that.
So in the finest season’s traditions, here are five resolutions we believe can help every business owner get 2024 off to the best possible start.
Book yourself an appointment with a business advisor
There’s no better way to give yourself a headstart down the path to a successful 2024 than by speaking to a business advisor. Did 2023 not quite go the way you planned? Then talk it through with an experienced, qualified specialist.
As well as expert financial acumen, what professional business advisors bring to the table is strategic thinking. Based on where your business is now and where you want it to go, in the context of what’s happening in your market, they will be able to plot a sensible, achievable course with you that will make success seem that much easier to grasp.
Why delay? Get in touch with our business advisory team to book an appointment right now!
Refresh your business plan
This is one that follows on directly from speaking to a business advisor. It’s one of those tasks that every business owner and board of directors should do regularly, but very easily drops down the priority list. Make a point of not letting that happen in 2024. New year, new plan – it’s all about having a clear sight of where you want to be heading in the next 12 months.
Find room in your budget to invest for growth
There’s no point trying to sugarcoat the fact that we are heading into yet another year with economic prospects looking gloomy. Given all the turmoil of recent years, it’s understandable that lots of people in business are thinking primarily in terms of cost-cutting as they look ahead. It’s a survival-first kind of environment.
But the problem with cost-cutting is that it eventually becomes self-perpetuating. You cut yourself into a position of weakness. Growth costs, and the businesses that come out of this prolonged downturn the strongest will be those that are prepared and able to invest. Again, speak to an accountant about how you can create some headspace in your budget.
Double down on talent retention
A cost that every business can do without right now is having to recruit more people than you need to. Sure, if expanding your team is part of your growth plans and you can see real positive returns from investing in new talent, go for it. But recruitment arising from high staff turnover is an expensive headache that you can and should avoid.
Unlike economic dips of the past, employment rates have remained high, which means the cost of recruiting people has remained high. Many businesses are finding it hard to fill positions, which itself holds back growth.
It therefore makes sense to invest instead in the people you have. Keeping them happy means also keeping them productive. And developing their capabilities in-house can fill skills gaps that you might struggle to address through recruitment.
Commit to complete transparency
Businesses find themselves under more scrutiny than ever regarding their role in society. On issues ranging from climate change and sustainability to brand ethics and inclusion, consumers nowadays demand transparency about how businesses operate. And increasingly, what they stand for.
If they don’t like what they hear, consumers are more than prepared to take their custom elsewhere. Businesses also need to be very wary of ‘greenwashing’ and the like, or making shallow claims about their credentials on ethical issues without being able to back them up. In the internet age, it’s hard to sustain the kind of fiction and semi-truths brands once readily got away with, and consumers can and will question claims in forensic detail. With the influence of social media, it only takes one citizen campaigner to expose an untruth, and the damage to your brand reputation can quickly become catastrophic.