Ringing in the New Year with new resolutions, objectives and outlooks can help put your business in a better competitive position come January 1st. Savvy business professionals have already erased bargain shopping, holiday parties and winter weather from their memory. Today’s business warrior is now waist deep in budget proposals, year-end audits and 2013/Q2 projections.
So before making dinner reservations or pouring a glass of cold bubbly, consider stepping back, reflecting and planning ahead for 2013. Follow these quick tips to start the New Year off on the right foot:
What better time to do a little business sprucing?
1.) Backup 2012: With thousands of hard drive crashes occurring each year in the U.S. alone, the 54% of Americans who don’t back up their data regularly risk losing precious documents, photos, video, music and financial records.
2.) Taxes: Potentially big federal tax changes that would kick in the first day of 2013 could boost your tax bill. Maximize your return by scheduling some extra face time with your tax pro between now and year-end. While you’re at it, why not get your credit score rating?
3.) Change Passwords: Protect your identity and dignity by changing your banking, email and social media passwords. Remember to combine numbers, caps and letters when setting your new passwords.
4.) Rebalance Investments: Once you have settled on the right assets, you must rebalance your retirement portfolio regularly to keep the right proportions.
5.) Organize Workstation: Take a look at your work area, including your email inbox, and see if there are improvements you can make to increase productivity. You may already have a great office set up, but it never hurts to try something new.
6.) Go Paperless: Avoid cleaning out the file cabinet year after year by switching to digital asset management. Implementing a quick and easy file sharing solution in 2013 is sure to save your business time and money. Some services will also automatically back up your data using the cloud.
Think about how great you’ll feel when you return to work in 2013 more organized and ready to take charge.
What are you doing to prepare for the New Year? Please weigh in with a comment below or on Facebook!