How to Review Your Year to Make 2019 The Best Year Ever

Running a successful Interior Design business (or indeed any business) doesn't happen by chance. Success is designed, strategically and by following tried-and-tested methods. As we head into the end of the year, one of the key strategies I recommend is to review your interior business year.

This helps you to see what worked and why, and what didn't work and why. This sort of strategic approach to your business will help you to smash your business goals next year. 

So, let's get started:

1. Recognise Your Success

When we achieve success in our business, it's sometimes difficult to look back and remember what we've done. We tend to move on quickly to the next goal, without pausing to celebrate.

Go back through your year month by month and record what successes you had; no matter how big or how small. What have you achieved.

2. Review Your Success

Once you know what you achieved, you also need to review that success. What did you do in order to achieve those goals?

Record what actions you took, what your mindset was, what leaps of faith you had to make. 

This is your recipe for success. You want to do more of this next year. Now that you've recorded it, that's going to be a whole lot easier. 

3. What Didn't Go Well?

Of course, not everything goes to plan in a whole year. There will have been times that things didn't go the way you wanted them to. You might have messed up, or not achieved as much as you wanted. You will have been frustrated, and met challenges in your path. 

Make a note of all of the things that went wrong this year. Why did these things happen? What frustrated you and why? What didn't you achieve? Why not? What got in your way?

4. Review Your Stats

Even if you're not a numbers person, you need to sit down and make friends with your spreadsheet. Look at your business finances month by month, and work out where your money is coming from, and where it is going. 

How much are you invoicing each month? Which incomes streams are earning you the most? Were there some months that were more profitable than others? Why was that?

How much are you spending on your business each month? What outgoings were really necessary and had an impact on your business? What was your return on investments you made.

How much did you pay yourself each month? Is this enough? Why, why not?

5. Check in with yourself

What made you happy this year? 

This is a really important question to ask. Think about the parts of your business that lit you up. The times you felt rewarded. 

Life is about more than making money. Real success isn't about money. Real success is living a life where you are happy and fulfilled. 

6. Lessons Learned

Now that you know what went went, and what didn't go so well, record what lessons you learnt from the year. 

What successes can you repeat to help you grow your business for the new year? What have you learned that can stop you making the same mistakes as this year?

Maybe you learned how to deal with clients better. Maybe you learned about having a good contract in place. 

What have you learned about yourself? How can you accommodate your unique needs in your business?

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