30 Dec Your end of year checklist

We’ve done the Christmas parties, opened the gifts, and ate all the food. Now it’s time to wrap up 2022 and start fresh. Here is your end of year checklist, so you can start strong in 2023.

Review & update your goals

This is a great time to look back at what you wanted to achieve this year. What worked for you? Did you achieve all your goals? Is there still work to be done? Or is there a change of direction in store for you? Take your time and consider your goals for 2023.

Celebrate your achievements – great and small

This is one of the most important items on your end of year checklist – celebrate your achievements! Too often we complete something, only to move straight on to the next thing. This is a recipe for burn out! Take time to consider all of the amazing things you accomplished this year, how much you learnt, how much you’ve grown, the opportunities you took, the challenges you overcame, and the impact you had. It is important to celebrate the wins as you go, but there is no rule that says you can’t celebrate them all over again at the end of the year.

Review your numbers

Cash flow is your business’ life force – without it, your business will be on life support and you may end up pulling the plug. Understanding your numbers can be daunting but it is critical for the growth of your business. You can use your financial reports to examine the growth in your business, cut unnecessary expenses, and compare your figures to previous years.

Audit & refresh your website

Your biggest piece of digital real estate needs to align with your brand and make the right impression on visitors. Check your load speed, delete any plugins you aren’t using, freshen up the copy, add new photos, make sure your details are correct, fix any broken links, and double check your SEO. Always consider how you can simplify the buying/booking process for your customer – aim for less time, less clicks, and less effort.

Review your prices & offerings

Your end of year checklist would not be complete without a review of your prices, products, and services. As our business evolves, we upskill, gain experience, or change direction, so too must our offer and pricing strategy. It can be difficult to think outside of swapping time for money, especially when you’ve come from working as an employee, but when you are your business, your time becomes even more valuable! Use the start of the new year to find ways to add value to your offers and raise your prices.

Review your systems & processes

Your systems and processes can be your greatest assets, or your greatest hinderance. There is an endless list of programs you can use within your business, but that can also be the issue. Take note of each system you use (program or not!) and what it is used for. You may have some systems that overlap, or features you aren’t using. The most important thing is that your systems work for you, they are systems you want to use, and they aren’t creating more work for you. In my opinion, if you can reasonably streamline and automate your business, then do – ASAP!

Audit & plan your social media

Much like your website audit, it’s time to make sure your social media presence is up to date, easy to understand, and puts your best foot forward. Are you describing your business using the right words for your ideal customer? Do the links in your bio take you audience to relevant pages? Is it simple to navigate? Does your social media content reflect your brand? Are you using a hashtag strategy or are you just winging it? It’s time to get on the front foot with your social media, so make a plan, get organised, create and schedule your content in advance, and use these free resources to your advantage!

Organise your calendar

You may have noticed that I’m a big fan of organisation, so the face that I’ve included calendar organisation on your end of year checklist shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. When you have your own business, you are in control of your calendar – so why not use that to your advantage? Using your newly updated goals (I’m hoping you have a few personal goals too), schedule time to do all the things you want/need in 2023. Your calendar is the best way to make sure you have time allocated, otherwise you risk having a whole lot of goals on your list, and not a lot of year left to complete them in. Start with a few simple things, like time off, creative days, special events, or personal development days. Work in your daily/weekly/monthly routines, time to take care of your finances, time for your home duties, time for your health, and time with your loved ones. The idea is that you make these appointments as commitments to the life you want to live – design it on purpose.

Clean & organise your space (physical & digital)

Without a regular clearing and organisational practice, clutter seems to grow from the corners of cupboards and the bottom of drawers. Before long there is a ‘neat’ pile of things on the desk, a ‘to do’ list that looks more like a table of contents, our digital files are a mess, and things start to feel overwhelming. The end of the year is the perfect time to clean out the old, organise the important, and make space for clear thoughts and creativity in the new year.

Update your passwords

Highlight this on your end of year checklist because your security and personal info are at risk if you don’t. I know password fatigue is a thing and we have to log in just about everywhere these days, but after the security breaches in 2022, it’s well worth your effort. To change your passwords, make them less obvious, use a mix of numbers, lower case and capital letters, special characters, make them unique for each profile, and use 2FA wherever you can. If you have a tough time remembering passwords, then try out programs like 1Password or LastPass (don’t just save them to your browser), which can open and fill in the details for you.

Write your needs & wants list for 2023

When was the last time someone asked you what you want or need? And when was the last time you asked yourself? This might seem like it leans into goal setting but the intention of this activity is a little different. You can take a page in your notebook, use a whiteboard, or create a spreadsheet, however this works best for you. Draw a table with two columns, then label the first column ‘Needs’ and the second ‘Wants.’ You are going to hold a question in your mind and imagine that anything is possible. Now, let yourself daydream a little and write down everything that comes up for you – using your columns to split up what you want VS what you need.

When you’ve filled your need/want columns, read each item out loud. As you do, highlight the things you can create/control, put a line through the things you cannot. Now compare this list to your goals, do they align? Have you missed anything? Now compare this list to your calendar, have you scheduled time for your needs? Have you left space for the wants?

I intentionally left this activity as the last item on your end of year checklist so I could highlight the importance of asking yourself what you actually want or need. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in other people’s expectations, outside influences, or all the time and effort we’ve already put into something, that we forget to consider what is important to us now.

In 2023, whether you make a million dollars, start a family, travel the world, meet the love of your life, move to a new city, or anything else you can imagine… I hope you do it on purpose and because it’s what you want or need.

Wishing you a wonderful new year, where possibility is everywhere.