Now is the perfect time to start planning for 2023.
Goal setting, calendar planning, updating processes, marketing campaigns, course creations, event planning, website updates and team meetings are just some of the things that are most likely on your list of things to do before you sign off for Christmas.
Here are 10 ways to help you get organised in the run up to the end the year and build a sustainable 2023 both for your personal and professional life.
1. Prepare your Christmas gifts and/or cards in advance.
This is definitely a task that can be outsourced to your Virtual Assistant.
If you’re sending Christmas gifts and/or cards, create a spreadsheet which includes who you’re sending them to including current and prospect clients. Check you have their business or home address, ensure you’ve enough postage stamps, check Royal Mail Christmas posting dates and pop in the diary when you need to send everything by.
If you’re sending an E-card, you can prepare your Christmas email list in advance ensuring all your clients are added to a dedicated email group. Whether that be on your marketing platform like MailerLite or in a simple spreadsheet ready for a mail merge, having all the information to hand will save so much time.
2. Create a NOT to do list.
Yes, you read that right!
As you are evaluating your goals, meetings, and obligations for the year ahead, consider what you DO NOT want to be doing anymore.
Determine all the projects, tasks, and responsibilities that you would like to stop doing in the year ahead, for example, what do you think holds you back from progressing or what do you hate doing? If you're unable to eliminate them from your day to day activities, outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant can be a great solution and a weight lifted off your shoulders. Now is the perfect opportunity to think ahead and to be ready to stop or delegate items on your not to-do list arise.
3. Conduct an annual calendar audit.
Conduct a thorough review of your 2022 calendar.
For each month, ask yourself:
Which meetings did you find successful?
Did you win new business and if so, how?
Have you made regular contact with your current clients throughout the year?
Could you do things a little differently?
And also:
Which meetings weren’t successful?
Why not?
How could you have done things differently?
Were there any distractions that took you away from making it more successful?
Asking yourself lots of questions will prepare you for when the same meetings happen in the new year.
This is just one example of what I discuss in my Executive Admin Audit (EAA) - give yourself your own constructive criticism which will highlight the reasoning behind each positive and negative experience, so you can understand with a much clearer and open mind, what didn’t work then, to what perhaps now will.
4. Schedule upcoming calendar placeholders.
First, put any holiday time, school holidays, personal appointments, days off, and training, webinars and/or conferences you're attending in the calendar.
Next, add all reoccurring meetings that you know you want, and need to keep, such as client reviews, upcoming webinars, courses you are attending, monthly networking events, weekly/monthly 1:1 with your PA/Virtual Assistant and also meetings with companies you are collaboratively working with. Of course, your diary will fill up quickly but knowing you have all your current recurring meetings in the calendar from January 2023 will prepare you better for the upcoming year ahead.
Ensure your online scheduler such as Calendly is also updated and synched, with upcoming events so when you share your link for meetings to be scheduled your availability is up to date.
Your Virtual Assistant can easily manage your upcoming recurring meetings, send calendar invitations and set up your online meetings and events. As long as they have the correct information this is something you don't need to do. If you want to delegate this task to a Virtual Assistant, let me know by booking a call with me.
Maybe you have events you are planning that still aren’t scheduled. Get the date set and fixed. For any online meetings ensure the dates have been created and invitations are sent.
And don't forget to tell your clients when you will be out of office and set your auto response to on!
5. Ask for feedback and a testimonial.
Testimonials do not take that long to give. Yet people still put the task of writing a review to the bottom of their to do list.
But testimonials are really important, so whilst we’re now on the home stretch try and find some time to send a personal email to your current and previous clients asking for feedback.
Review which companies you have collaboratively worked with over the past year, including your Virtual Assistant and take the time to write a testimonial for them too. I know it'll make their day.
Ensure you share the correct link for them to leave their testimonial, deciding which platform you would really like for them to leave their review, including LinkedIn, Google, Facebook, VouchedFor.
Another way to obtain client reviews is by creating a survey which you can ask clients for their honest feedback. Survey Monkey, Google Forms and even MailerLite can do this for you.
Your Virtual Assistant can easily create the feedback form, send to clients and monitor responses. It will save you so much time. This is something I can help with too!
Closing the year with even just a few new testimonials will definitely give you even more of a reason to celebrate!
6. Inbox detox - get your emails back in control.
Unsubscribe to emails that you no longer open or are interested in. Your inbox gets flooded every day and can cause anxiety and fear of wanting to open your emails.
If you really don’t want to delete anything just in case you miss something, create folders and filters so your inbox is much more organised.
A Virtual Assistant can definitely help with clearing out all the unwanted emails. It can be a huge task depending how many emails you have.
7. Handle business financials.
Regularly look at your balance sheets and cash-flow and review your profit and loss statements. Reconcile your accounts, chase any outstanding payments and ensure all invoices are sent.
How often do you look at your pricing structure, when was the last time you reviewed your pricing. Now is a great opportunity but this should also be a regular occurrence.
8. Backup your computer
Make sure that your important files, including financial documents, client information, proposals, and valuable emails are backed up and secure, either on to a hard drive or to a cloud-based storage system like Goggle Drive or Dropbox, to ensure all data is stored safely and securely as you enter the new year.
9. Update your vision board and determine your goals.
Reflect on the goals you set for 2022:
Did you reach them?
How many targets did you want to meet?
Which goal did you find easy to reach compared to those where you struggled?
But don’t worry if there are goals you set in 2022 that you didn’t reach. Not meeting your goals doesn’t mean they aren’t achievable, they absolutely are, so carry them forward to 2023 instead.
Adding new things to your vision board creates new opportunities and will keep you focused to reach new heights.
10. Relax and spend time with important people in your life.
The 24/7 grind of owning your own business might have taken you away from friends and family. Ensure you have a target date for when you finish up for the year and make it non-negotiable.
Start to make plans for when you finish up, including:
the all-important food shop
book tickets for panto
decide a date to get the tree and decs up
catch up with special friends and family
time to wrap the presents rather than leaving it to Christmas Eve
squeeze in a little pamper time in preparation for the upcoming Christmas celebrations.
But most of all….Enjoy x
Lorraine Issott, Virtual Executive Assistance supports small business owners, executives and entrepreneurs who need to focus on the most critical aspects of their business, relieving the pressure of tasks that they simply no longer want or have the capacity to do.
Get in touch with Lorraine by booking a 30 minute no-obligation consultation call HERE
You can also download 'Delegate Your To-Do List to your Virtual Executive Assistant' to find over 100 tasks that your Virtual Assistant can own and perform for you.
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