While many businesses have strategic goals, long-term plans, mission statements, and exit strategies perhaps it’s also time that we started making new year’s resolutions for our businesses.  Most business owners make a budget for the next year.  But why not also use this time to critically evaluate the work-flow process and make any necessary changes that help improve efficiency, customer service, and best of all – profitability.

Think of something in your own business that did not go as smoothly as you hoped in 2007.  Decide what you will do differently in 2008 to improve that situation and achieve the desired outcome.  Then jot down a quick list of reminders and things to do to make sure that happens.

If the problem is inherent in your way of doing business, perhaps it’s time to review the overall process.  One quick and easy way to do this is to create or update an existing Gantt chart.  You can make these charts as elaborate or simple as your individual needs require, for instance Microsoft Project is a nice piece of software but I’ve found that you can open an empty Microsoft Excel or other brand of spreadsheet and label and shade the boxes to create the same basic chart once printed.

If you personally are the roadblock to your own company’s success, consider finding a coach or a mentor.  This doesn’t have to be something formal where you hire one (although you certainly can), it can be a trusted friend, a former industry professional that is now retired, and even some colleges offer coaching services to alumni.

Regardless whether you have a short list of things that you keep in your pocket or you decide to rethink your mission statement and supporting goals, these new year’s resolutions are not for you, they’re for your business. 

All the best to you and your business ventures in the coming year!

Thomas Goodwin is an Ohio licensed real estate agent (Realtor) and insurance agent.  He is the Founder and CEO of Northern Pine Properties, Inc., a real estate investment, development, and management company in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In my “Progression of Livelihoods”, a Venn diagram is used instead of a pyramid because several of these roles can overlap. I also believe that a strict sequential progression is not a requisite, since people often leap-frog to different roles or assume multiple roles at the same time. This is my definition of livelihoods and the logical progression between each:

• Employee
  Employees are hired by an employer and agree to work a specified amount of time performing a specified set of activites for a specified level of compensation. They are typically classified as either hourly or salaried and provided a set of benefits such as health insurance and retirement savings plans. The majority of working individuals are employees. Employees are resources being leveraged by the company for whom they work.
• Self-Employed
  Self-employed individuals do not work for a specific company, but instead work for themselves. They define their own work schedule and compensation level, and work independent of other employees, partners, or managers. Self-employed individuals are leveraging their own skills and talents.
• Small Business Owner
  Small business owners run businesses that typically have fewer than 500 employees. They establish their business as a legal entity and deal with the day to day operation of the company. The majority of businesses in the United States are small businesses. Small business owners leverage their employees’ skills and talents.
• Entrepreneur
  Entrepreneurs seek to start new ventures from value-creating ideas. They typically take more calculated risks than any other role and have a greater understanding of how to assemble quality teams of people to run their ventures. Entrepreneurs leverage people, resources and assets.
• Venture Capitalist
  Venture capitalists invest money in new, growing or struggling businesses. They do not typically work within the ventures that they fund, but they often function as board members to help guide these businesses towards success. Venture capitalists leverage capital.

Here is an assignment that you can complete in the comments section of this post: Define some possible combinations of overlapping roles. An example would be an overlap between a self-employed person and an entrepreneur: self-employed individuals are pefectly capable of leveraging their resources and creativity in an entrepreneurial manner to benefit their business. Could there be an overlap of 3 of the roles? In which role are you currently? In which role do you want to be?

1. Seek transparency and understanding with your partners early. Issues get harder as time passes

2. Startup founders work long hours for a reason. There’s more work than there are people. If you’re seeking balance, seek it elsewhere.

3. Bad customers will drain you of passion. Really bad customers will drain you of both passion and profits. Unfortunately, most bad customers will degenerate into really bad customers if you don’t do something about it.

4. If you’re changing directions too often, worry a little. If you’re changing people too often, worry a lot.

5. It’s lonely at the top, but even lonelier at the bottom. In the early days of a startup, hardly anyone wants to talk to you (except some desperate vendors).

Read the full list of insights.