7 Business Resolutions You Need to Keep this Year

by Danielle Andrews Sunkel

We look at New Years and reflect on the year that just past and the excitement of possibilities the future holds.  We promise ourselves we will do these great things this year.  We’ll work smarter not harder, we’ll win an award, we’ll get tons of business, we will become a media legend.

A lot of our “resolutions” are dreams, not goals, but here are 7 business resolutions you need to keep:

1. Move up to the next level

You need to take a hard look at your business.  Everyone has a dream for their business, you need to look at the dream and assess how far your reality is from that dream.  What do you need to do to attain that?  Dress better, get a better brand, learn a new skill, market more, gain more media exposure, get more clients, get bigger budget clients?

Everyone’s business model is different, you need to assess what defines success for you and what you need to do or change to make that happen.  Your dream needs to turn into and remain your goal.

2. Blog more

It can be hard to keep your Blog updated, trust me I know, but if you have a Blog attached to your website you need to post to it 1-2 times per week or remove it.

Keep it fresh, keep it relelvant and post things you would want to read as someone planning a wedding.  Here are some tips to get you started, “5 Blog Posts to Write After a Wedding“.

3. Keep up with Social Media

Did you know that more content gets published every day than all the information that was published before 2004 as a whole?  That is insane, but that is the world we live in.
In one month:

• 1,350,000,000 people use Facebook
• 300,000,000 people use Instagram
• 284,000,000 people use Twitter
• 70,000,000 people use Pinterest
• 300,000,000 people use Google+
• 60,000,000,000 views on YouTube

Source: Digital Marketing Ramblings

Your potential clients are consuming mass amounts of information on Social Media, why aren’t you front and centre delivering that content?

4. Attend a conference or three

There is this weird stigma about conferences in the wedding industry.  People think that once they have earned a particular degree of clout they look weak for attending an industry conference unless they are speaking at it.  Huh?  No one, NO ONE, knows everything about weddings or the industry, you should know that you look really silly when you try to act like you do.

There are so many great conferences out there.  Even if the learning isn’t that great, the networking might be, if the networking isn’t that great, the learning will be.  If you only learn one great tip from the conference you attend, that tip will still make you smarter and you will earn more money.

As I always say, “You dont’t know, what you don’t know.” 😉

5. Master a new skill

Further to the point above, everyone can learn a new skill and you will only be better for it.  Learn about Google Adwords, learn how to create great Vlogs, learn the language of your favourite Destination Wedding spot, how to create a great website, learn how to fix cakes, learn how to sew, how to take great photos for your portfolio, learn how to attract media.

Just learn, learn, learn!

6. Keep better books

It is a fact of business: to have a good business you have to keep good books.  You should be in complete control of your finances and you need to know what is happening with your business.  There should never be surprises and nothing would be worse than getting a tax bill for $10,000 at the end of the year when you were completely unprepared and oblivious to it. By not keeping good books, the only person you are hurting is yourself.

7. Get media attention/professional accolades

No one is going to beat down your door for quotes or to present you with accolades.  If you want it, you have to go get it.
If you want more media, prepare a kick-butt Media Kit and send it out to every outlet you want to be featured in, send out real wedding features, build amazing styled photoshoots and go after your goal.

If professional accolades are something that is important to you, make sure you are worthy of them and enter the categories.  I’m not talking about the popularity contests that are based on how many of your friends click their vote everyday, I’m talking about real industry awards that acknowledge all of your hard work and dedication.

Some people could care less about media attention or professonal accolades, but if it is something that is important to you, be worthy and go after them!

I’m sure you have noticed that every resolution I have listed means a lot of hard work from you.  Any successful person will tell you they achieved their success through blood, sweat and tears.  Success does not just fall in your lap (as so many believe), it is the result of hard work, sacrifice and dedication.  Anything that matters always is 😉

Danielle Andrews Sunkel is the Co-Founder of WPIC Inc. and has owned The Wedding Planners since the year 2000.

She doesn’t just preach, she walks the walk, and talks the talk.

Danielle is regularly featured in magazines, in newspapers, on Blogs, on television shows and speaks at Industry Conferences. A true believer in education, she attends many conferences every year, constantly learns new skills and best of all, she shares what she learns to make us all better and more successful.