How to Prepare For the Holidays As a Small Business Owner

As the holiday season nears, it’s important for small businesses to consider what it means for their business. 

Read on for the steps that I take as a business owner to ensure my business is ready to take on the new year:

1. Get your books in order!

   End of year means that tax season is near, and how better to prepare for it than to make sure your finances are in check? It’s time to get all your business finances reconciled and balanced and ensure you are closing the tax season seamlessly.
   
   Here’s your reminder also to call your financial advisor for the new year or CPA for filing returns now to book your appointments! 
   

2. Reflect on the year & celebrate your wins!

   Next, reflect on the year and all the goals you achieved! Whether small or large, it deserves recognition. Go through month by month and list out your wins, and you know what? Give yourself a HUGE pat on the back, take yourself out for a nice dinner, or buy yourself those shoes you’ve been eyeing — because you deserve it!
   
   Being a business owner is no small feat and the end of the year is a great time to reflect on the wins (and losses) and reward yourself for them.
   

3. Set your goals for the next year

   If you haven’t already, make sure you are setting your goals for the new year. It’s so important to have these written down so you can be reminded of them and continue to reach your goals! Manifest them into existence.
   
   Bonus: find an accountability buddy — this can be a friend or family member that you can report your weekly or monthly progress to. A study from the Dominican University proved that 76% of those who write their goals down and share frequent updates to a friend accomplish their goals or were at least half way there.†
   
   Use our Future Planning Worksheet (free!) in the JDP Resource Library to kickstart your goal planning. This will feed into your larger strategic goals to focus on. Don’t have a strategic plan? Start with our Strategic Planning spreadsheet.
   

4. Get clarity on your cash flow

   As you turn the new year, you may have new clients, new products/services, new programs, or more, OR you could be changing your prices (the New Year is a great time to do so!)
   
   That being said, as you near the end of year, it’s a great time to start projecting your cash flow for the first quarter, or even first half of the following year! This will help assess too if the goals you are setting can be reached with the cash reserves you have planned in the new year. Need a cash flow tool to play around with? We recommend using the Cash Flow planner on QuickBooks, click here to use my referral code for 30% off your first 6 months!
   
   Read more about the Must-Have Tools to Scale Your Business on our blog. These tools have been crucial in my journey to scale my business, and I’m sharing them with you.
   

5. Say thanks — however you can, no gesture is too big or small!

   As a small business owner, I have worked with SO many incredible companies and freelancers who have been absolutely crucial to my success. Whether they are your customer, client, supplier, friend, family, you name it — it’s time (but not the only time) to say thanks.
   
   For me, around the holidays, I work with local gift box curator, Minny and Paul, to put together little care packages for my clients and contractors who have been instrumental to my business as a way of saying thank you for an incredible year. Of course, you don’t have to save this until year-end, but hey, it’s a write off too ;)
   

6. Take a break and communicate it!

   It’s been a long year, and you know what? I’m taking a d*mn BREAK! There is nothing better than taking the time to reset & relax by myself or with family before starting the new year.
   
   Don’t forget that you’re human too. And if you have time to plan a vacation or just to “be” out of office for a day, a week, or more — do it. Because you deserve it!
   
   Now, I know what you’re probably saying - but it’s the holidays, there isn’t time to take a break! There’s sales and shipping and clients that need help - and to that, I say: set your boundaries early on! Let your customers or clients know when you will be out of office, or when shipping cut-offs will be so that you can get your time off too. 

The year-end hustle and bustle can be stressful, but don’t let it be! Get ahead of it as much as you can by starting your checklist now, and get yourself in a better position by the time December 31st hits to welcome the new year. 

If you’re evaluating your business and want to chat with me about scaling in the new year, book with me!

Kickstart your year with a ton of resources (paid + free) from the JDP Resource Library!

Disclosure: I only recommend products that I use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own! This post may contain affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase or sign up through the links on our site at no additional cost to you.

References:
† “Study focuses on strategies for achieving goals, resolutions” by Sarah Gardner and Dave Albee: https://scholar.dominican.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1265&context=news-releases

HI THERE, I’M JORDYN

Serial entrepreneur, strategic integrator and financial aficionado.

My mission is to revolutionize the way businesses grow with strategic clarity and implementation. It goes beyond consultancy—as I want to be a dedicated partner in propelling your success with strategy and impactful execution with zest and honesty.