year end.... what works?

[greenoak]

do you do anything at year end to rearrange your plans and plots for the next year? ..like what???
..we do swot and i get some surveys to the staff to try and talk about whats happened in 2011....andi get to see the years numbers on all their forms including charts....
sometimes i do mind mapping...which is pretty cool and sometimes reveals wierd connnections and possibilities..
i always think things can be better and better.like the peter DRUCKER theories a long time ago... ...and i never want to throw out something thats w orking great in favor of thenew idea...etc etc....
i like to have 10 or 20 ideas and throw them out to my partners...aka family and staff ...and see what they think about it all, or what they like and would add to..or what they totally dislike.....
all this isnt for a business thats working great and doesnt need to change anything.... but thats never us.... more always seems possible!!! and we are about trends which always seem to move... ..year end analytics really helps in all this for me...i try and get as much feedback from everyone as i can...including customers......
im just starting this process and would love to hear some other views of how you do it... if you do...

[SC93]

I don't agree with something you said. You said... all this isnt for a business thats working great and doesnt need to change anything.

Every business should always try to be better if they are trying to make more money. Because I'm a race fan, and racing IS a business, I'll give you an example... Tony Stewart won the Nascar championship... a few days later he fired his crew chief. He did that because although they had won the championship THIS year... Tony didn't think they have what it took to win it next year. So even though he is on top.... he changed things around.

I'll admit that I'm more like you and if things are working I don't want to throw them out but even when things were at it's best when I had employees I was always looking to get better. Personally, I'm lucky enough to not need more money so there may be a few people out there like me but for the most part, they need to always be looking for better things. I didn't just think about this at years end... being better was on my mind every day.

[greenoak]

very good points...thats how i feel too...i would never think nothing needs changing!!!lol.....thats why i love this year end stuff...and the timing is right here, rush is over, big buying coming up, and all our years numbers are coming out..
....still i m not going to change ...drastically change...something like a main event that brings in tons of $$$$
here it really is about change, new displays, new ideas, new inventory all the time is one of our draws..and its saved us as our basic antique business fell away and we had to drastically change and pratically start over to survive.. ... .....
your situation sounds so nice....i cant imagine....
do you miss the pressure? heres mine.... my son and granddkids all depend on the store too... i love working tho...good thiing...Lol

[SteveM]

I agree with SC93 - nothing is ever TOO good not to improve on. However, I believe your point was more towards the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" category.

My plan going into a new year is pick three projects that need to get done, three that you will try to get done, and three that would be nice to get done. If you accomplish everything, great, but if you don't, at least you were successful with the "need to get done" batch. If I put too much on my plate, nothing gets done, and that doesn't work!

[SC93]

Do I miss the pressure? I think I do. I think that's the difference between an employee and the owner. I could work at Burger King and go home and my job is done. But in my cleaning business I never stopped thinking about it. Lisa is now my ex-girlfriend... when we first got together she asked if I could stop talking about business... she started working with me and within a year... business was all she talked about. lol On the flip side to that, my friend Craig owns 36 Burger Kings and he never thinks about them... he just waits for the check to roll in. I figure... 36 BK's and if he would ONLY make $50 a day from each... $900 day x 30 = $54,000 a month. Wouldn't that be SWEET!!!!!!

I'm always looking for something to dabble in... good thing my grandson takes up a lot of my time. lol Although, we are talking about the flip flop business. I have a friend that does flea markets and he said he makes a lot of money... I've seen him make a lot of money. lol But we are only going to shows about once a month and run it mostly online. I guess I need the pressure. lol

[greenoak]

wow....that guy is a great delegater!!!!
why do you think your businesses took off so well? what was the key ?

[WCrown]

I can understand your scenario....been in business for 25 yrs. but I really believe if one does not take true, unbiased look at their business model they can get into trouble pretty quick. Things are moving so fast now that the mindset we may have had 3-5 yrs. ago is now ancient history and if one doesn't adjust they will get left in the dust. Even though we've been around for a while our plan for this new year is to upgrade software, expand internet marketing, etc. The thing I see is that customer loyalty is becoming more problematic and certain revenues we enjoyed for years from a customer(s) can be gone in a flash if a new competitor comes in from out of blue and just torpedo's pricing on certain items.

One thing that's worked for me is to combine the experience of our older workers with the energy & 'up to speed' knowledge of younger people in tune with the net, social networking, etc. and the results have been pretty positive.....sure, sometimes there's a little head-shaking at each other but it can also be beneficial in the long run.

[greenoak]

good points,,,,,,,listening to the new young homeowners has saved us for sure..... and changed us.... ...
..welcome to the forum...