Another year’s started and some of us have in mind the things we’ll do differently in the coming year.

It’s good to put some of that focus on your business too. Business plans and budgets are easy to put together; it’s the thinking about them and, the sometimes uncomfortable feeling of having to analyse your business, that’s hard. But this very exercise also frees you from that very burden as you’ll know where your business is going and what you want to achieve for the year. You want your business plan to be a document that’s easy to read. If it’s a hefty novel then you’re unlikely to look at it again. Your business plan may be several pages as it will contain the detail of what you want to achieve and how you’re going to do it.

To keep you on track create a one page plan that highlights the key goals you want to achieve. Print it out and put it on the wall as a visual prompt to help keep you on track. As for your budget most accounting software has this functionality or you can use an Excel spreadsheet. Start with the profit you want to achieve for the year and work backwards from there. There is lots of information online about business plans and setting up budgets, or you can give us a call if you would like to know more.

Here’s to 2017; the future’s looking bright. Need some help to get you started? Feel free to get in touch. You can ask us a question at www.yoa.co.nz.