The end of the year is a busy time for business owners! Once you have your taxes all in order and you’ve taken care of everything you need to on that end, what’s next? Business owners know that their work is never really done, but there are things you can do now to ensure your next year will start off on the right foot. How can you send your 2018 business year off with a bang? There are lots of things business owners can do to be sure they end the year without regrets, and here’s where you should start:

Re-Evaluate Your Finances

The end of each year is the perfect time for people to re-evaluate finances, both personal and professional. When you’re a business owner, this takes on a whole new meaning. Re-evaluating your finances means looking at your marketing budget to determine what’s working and what is a waste of your cash, looking at your employees to determine who the best fits are for your business and if raises are in order, looking at your products to determine which ones are your biggest money-makers and which need to go, and so much more. If you don’t already have a tool managing your revenue and spending as well as all of your marketing data, the new year is the perfect time to set yourself up for success and get one.

If you’re not entirely sure where your business stands financially and you need some help evaluating that, we’ve found a great tool for you from The Balance Small Business. Use this balance sheet to determine what your business’ future financial goals should be, and where your business is doing well financially.

Know Your Plan & Goals for the Future

What better time to set goals and create a game plan than the end of the year? You have one solid month left to get everything in order to finalize the end of another year for your business. One of the most important things you have to do this month is create a plan for the upcoming year and set some attainable goals. If there are changes that need to be made to your business, now is the perfect time to do what you need to in order to make them. Whether your goals are focused around revenue, new products, business growth, customer retention or anything else, you should have these goals clearly defined and planned out before the new year begins.

Give Your Employees Feedback

It’s your job as a business owner to not just run the business, but also to lead your employees. The end of the year is a great time to meet with each and all of your employees one-on-one to give them feedback about their performance. Let your employees in on your goals for the business so they know where you’re headed and what they should be focusing on. If you had some issues with an employee throughout the year, this is a good time to clear the air and let them know you’re starting with a clean slate in the upcoming year. Giving your employees feedback is the best way to help them learn and grow as well as make sure that your employees are who you need them to be in order to accomplish your business’ goals. Don’t leave out the positive feedback, either! Constructive criticism is essential to business growth, but so is positive feedback and letting your employees know that you’re happy with their hard work. People thrive off of compliments and you never want your employees left feeling like they’re in a thankless job.

Set Expectations

Setting expectations for your business, your employees and even yourself is essential to growth. This means that you are setting expectations to yourself and your employees about how your business should be run, how your products should be presented and what the quality of your work should be. Be sure everyone in your company is on the same page as far as what your expectations are for the upcoming year and really hold yourself to what you decide! If you expect that your employees should be on time to every job and only deliver the highest quality of work, follow through with that and don’t let customers slip through the cracks.

As you implement all of these things into your end-of-year routine, you’re going to send your 2018 business year off with a bang, and set yourself up for a very promising 2019!

For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, subscribe to the FreshLime Newsletter here. Connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. And last of all, if any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!