2024 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Small Business

As small business owners, we make it a point to make at least one New Year’s resolution for our company every year. This approach helps us keep our goals in mind and develop a plan to make them happen. 

Need help deciding on a good New Year’s resolution for your small business? Here are some of our favorite resolutions for you to try in 2024. 

Develop an FAQ page

Part of being a great business owner is being proactive. Take the new year as an opportunity to create an FAQ page that answers common questions you receive from customers or clients. You can put the FAQ on your website for people to navigate as questions arise, reducing the number of inquiries through phone or email. 

Another great option is turning your FAQs into a PDF you send to new customers or clients when they book a service. If you send out quotes, conformations, or contracts for your products or services, include the PDF with it. Answering questions proactively can help potential customers decide to give their business to you quickly. 

Buy something that will help you be more efficient

We all have an area in our workspace that could be more efficient. It’s easy to just make do with the inconvenience because it works well enough, but your productivity could be much better with a simple change. 2024 is the time to buy that item to make you work more efficiently. 

It could be a laptop stand, a paper organizer, or an extra charging cable. Think about the area of your workplace that never seems to work quite like you want and resolve to purchase something that can improve efficiency. Remember, it's the little things that often make the biggest impact on our day-to-day work life.

Take care of yourself

Self-care is a popular New Year’s resolution in many circles, but it’s often overlooked in the small business owner sector. It’s easy to get so busy and focused on your business that you forget to care for yourself. We know you have a lot on your plate, so this resolution shouldn’t be too involved. 

Make it a point to include making breakfast or lunch in your daily plan or prioritize healthy eating by purchasing more pre-cut fruits and vegetables to snack on while you work. If you don’t have time to cook a yummy meal everyday, plan to stock food that you can eat quickly or even grab on your way out the door. Little changes like that can make a big difference in your busy life. 

Organize your mail

Do you haphazardly dump your mail wherever you can when it comes in? 2024 is the year we stop doing that! 

Begin the new year by developing an organization method for the mail you need to keep. A filing system is a great way to keep your mail under control, and you’ll be able to find what you need when you need it. 

If that sounds too complicated, or if you have a system but you can’t keep up with it,  just get 2 matching boxes. Label one “New Mail” and label the other “To File”. When the mail comes in, you can either just dump it in the “New Mail” box or pull out the junk and then dump it in. Once a week, go through the box and deal with any bill or time sensitive things.

Then discard the mail that was taken care of and put anything that needs filing or safekeeping in the “To File” box. Once a month (or when that box is full) take out your filling box and put all the papers away.

Make your business appear more professional

Every aspect of your small business should be professionally minded, and now’s the time to re-evaluate items like your voicemail and website. Consider making it a priority to purchase an email domain for your business this year. Using an email that is your_name@your_business.com is much more professional than your_business@gmail.com. 

If you don’t have the extra money right now to take that step, you can choose a free improvement like recording a professional voicemail for your business phone. Steps like these help develop your brand and present a cohesive, professional image to your customers. 

Update your email signature

Do you find yourself sending the same two or three website links in emails? If that’s you, consider updating your email signature to include the links proactively. Including links to your contact page, storefront or FAQ page in your signature can help you automatically share your most popular links. Consider it a move towards efficiency and increased traffic to your website. 

Revamp your calendar

Are you a business owner relying on your phone’s calendar or a paper planner? It's time to streamline your scheduling. Remembering to input every appointment or call into your calendar and cross-referencing multiple planners can get overwhelming, especially as your business picks up. 

Consider resolving to use a calendar booking system to schedule your appointments this year. Many systems are available, so you can find one that meets your business needs. Whether you want a system that creates a schedule for you or syncs across all your business computers, there’s a system out there for you to help streamline your scheduling. 

You can even get a free version of a scheduling software that will allow clients to see when you are available and book appointments without having to contact you! You can set your schedule and customize appointment lengths so you don’t have to text back and forth 3 times to find a time that works for both you and your clients.

Wrapping Up: Your Business in 2024

While everyone is focusing on improving their personal lives in the new year, don’t let your focus stray too far from your business. You’ve put a lot of hard work and dedication into your small business. Consider the new year a perfect opportunity to make resolutions that improve your efficiency, revenue, and productivity in 2024.