Winding Down and Gearing Up

I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy now that another holiday season has passed. It seems to come quicker and quicker each year doesn't it? Just when you seem to be getting into the groove of one year, it's time to buy a new calendar.

Though 2008 was a pretty good year overall, the highlight for me personally was starting my own business last summer. It has always been a dream of mine to work for myself and I finally found a way to make it happen. I now spend my days doing work that I love for amazing clients. In addition to starting my business I've appeared on 2 Blogtalk radio programs, 1 mainstream radio program in Canada and taught a teleclass about Twitter. Most recently I've been asked to be a guest blogger on 4 different blogs. Things are really taking off! With all of those fantastic things happening I decided to keep the momentum going through the holidays.

Taking Time to Recharge Myself and My Business
I've been working nonstop since I started my business full time and although I'm grateful things took off so quickly, I've had little down time to plan ahead and create a success plan for myself. So I decided the week between Christmas and New Year's was a great time to do that. I gave myself the week "off" to take a couple of days for myself to have quiet time and reflect on the past year and what I have accomplished. The rest of the time I will use to gear up for a successful 2009.

Organizing and Planning and Goal Setting, Oh My!
Although I want my VA business to keep growing and continue to grow successfully there are many other things I want to do as well. Branches I want to add to my professional tree, so to speak. I want to write more including articles and finally getting that book down on paper that's been in my head for quite some time. With the help of my new friend Donna Kozik I plan to make that dream a reality. There are also many other things I plan on embarking on which I plan to lay the groundwork for in early 2009. All of these things take careful planning.

I'm going to be clearing my desk of everything that's taking up space. File what needs to be filed, toss the rest. My email is out of control so with the help of another new friend Brad Semp and his Email Cashmap System I am conquering that beast once and for all.

I've been meaning to launch my new newsletter for weeks now. I have the service in place and a growing list! It's finally time to give them what they signed up for! So that will be happening the first week of the year.

I'll be making at least one trip to Office Depot to load up on supplies that have depleted and search for others that might make the flow of things run a little more smoothly. It's also time to refill my dayplanner with 2009 pages and other goodies.

I'll also be implementing some systems into my business that I've been lacking like keeping up with my To Do list, entering everything into Quickbooks and setting aside some time each Friday to plan for the week ahead.

Time to create some new forms, update my marketing packet and my website and organize my filing cabinet.

Most importantly, time to back everything up! Put all of my old files on flash drives and discs and clean out both computers. Make sure virus protection is up to date and get ready for working both my laptop and desktop like dogs in 2009!

If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail
This is a quote I heard a long time ago and it's always stuck with me. I don't believe you can truly be successful without a plan. Although all of the above may seem like a lot, it is doable and will make a world of difference in how I run my business in 2009. I want to make sure that in the coming year I am equipped with a roadmap to take me to the next level. I plan to be unstoppable in the new year but you can't be unstoppable if you come to a dead end road because you forgot to bring your map! (even if you think you know where you're going, you'll eventually take a wrong turn if you try to do it from memory)

Creating success by "winging it" is not only much more work in the end, it's very risky. By taking a little time regularly to work it out on paper and do some maintenance in the office you'll eliminate many of the "uh oh" and "now what" moments from your life.

I wish you much success and prosperity in the new year and hope you are taking a little time for yourself to recharge your batteries and get ready for an amazing 2009!

Happy New Year!
Jackie