by Karen Wessels, co-founder of SnappSales and VA Connect
It’s that time of the year again to review what transpired this past year, to make sense of the madness, learn from our mistakes and look forward to a great year ahead.
Postpartum time
My business partner and I do a postpartum every December (we prefer postpartum to postmortem as it has a much more positive spin to it!). We look at what happened the past year, what strategies worked (and which ones didn’t), where we faced challenges and how we overcome them, what our wins were and where we can do better next year (almost like we’ve been given a brand new year with the slate clean to start afresh with renewed vigour).
Have you taken the time to sit back and reflect on the year past? Yes, there will be wins and losses, it’s only natural. Keep in mind that we cannot see the stars if it weren’t for the dark. Take the losses and negative in your stride and always give it a positive spin.
“I like the night. Without the dark, we'd never see the stars.” Stephanie Meyer
Lessons to be learned
2017 has been a bitter-sweet year for me. It saw the birth, growth and development of our beautiful baby girl. 2017 also showed me the ugly in business and people, the haters, issues that have been taken legal, the scary moment of almost losing one of my businesses and the revival thereof. All of this whilst building a brand, developing my current business, and looking to start new brands.
They say that entrepreneurs are a mad lot – we would rather work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week. At least we can be mad together! As women entrepreneurs we have the opportunity to be a part of an amazing community with endless support and so much talent to tap into.
I love to see the opportunity and lesson in everything. I would much rather learn from all the business events of the year, take my lesson from it and make sure that I do better next time, instead of having a pity party and not getting anywhere.
You need support
But also know this, we cannot do this alone. So if you made it through this year (well done!) on your own steam, then I would really recommend that as part of your own planning for 2018, you include a business coach. If that’s not possible, at least have a few mentors that you can approach. You won’t find an athlete (world-class or otherwise) without a coach. How then do we expect to make it in business without outside expert guidance?
2017 has presented you with an opportunity, an opportunity to become a better business person, a better person, a better leader.
Bringing it together
Please take the time this December to look at the wins and losses for the year, see where you can improve, where you need assistance. Take the leap of delegating tasks (you really don’t have to do everything yourself, I promise!) and focus your energy on what you’re really good at and love doing. This will show in your business growth, in your staff happiness and your success.
Here’s to an even better 2018!
Karen Wessels is the co-founder and COO of VA Connect, a South African virtual assistant platform that provides outsourced administrative support; and is also the co-founder of SnappSales, a company that generates quality sales leads for its clients. Prior to establishing both her companies, Karen spent over 10 years in different sales, marketing & admin support roles. This experience has equipped her with the invaluable skills required to run her two successful business ventures. Follow Karen on her Personal Website | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
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