• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Start Here
  • Work with David
  • Our Services
  • Contact
Young Adult Money

Make more. Save more. Live better.

  • Blog
  • Credit Cards
    • Rewards
    • Cash Back
    • Travel
    • Airlines
    • Hotels
    • Balance Transfer
    • Student
    • Business
  • FREE Budget Spreadsheet
  • FREE Student Loan Spreadsheet
This Just In... Check out the latest travel rewards credit card offers

Three Ways to Take Your Business to the Next Level in the New Year

By David Carlson / Last updated: March 29, 2015 / Small Business

We may receive compensation from companies mentioned within this post via affiliate links. Read our full advertiser disclosure. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Pin
Share2
Tweet26
Email
Buffer
Share
28 Shares

Small Business Owner PresentingThe end of the year is always a good time to evaluate your business and make plans for where you want it to be in the future. I love the symbolic “fresh start” of the new year and feeling like there is nothing stopping me from having a breakout year for my business.

Beyond that I always think about how I can start other businesses that compliment what I’m already doing. Adding product/service offerings, or even adding new lines of business to your current business (I plan on adding a second website next year) are important to pursue if your goal is growth.

With that being said, I want to talk about three specific ways that you can take your current business to the next level in the new year.

Plan for Successful Expansion

It’s easy to say “I want to book twice as much revenue as last year.” It’s much harder to actually make this a reality. I personally have a goal of adding an additional $1 -$1.5k of revenue per month in 2014. This means I will likely need to upgrade my current design, produce more content, market content more aggressively, and spend significant time researching untapped revenue streams. If I don’t plan for how to make this goal a reality, it’s unlikely I will accomplish it and it’s much more likely my business growth will stagnate.

Increasing your revenue may also mean increased expenses. Whether this is additional contractors, employees, office space, or upgrading technology and systems, it’s important to remember that new expenses will likely arise. There are only so many hours in a day

Market Your Business Better

How you specifically market your business will depend entirely on what kind of business you are in. Some businesses are lucky enough to constantly receive referrals from past customers. If you want to truly take your business to the next level, though, it’s going to take some strategic marketing and outreach. A few ways to market your business better in the new year are:

  • Use Social Media – If you aren’t on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or other social media sites you may be missing out on potential clients. My wife and I actually found one of our wedding vendors (cheesecake – it was delicious!) randomly through Twitter. If you aren’t active on social media or are only on one social media platform, I would encourage you to start building a presence. I plan on taking my own advice and adding Google+ to the platforms I am active on.
  • Seek Out Customers – Finding potential clients and landing a contract/sale is one of the most important activities if you are looking for your business to grow. If you are a data management company that caters to small or mid-size businesses, reach out to those in your area (or not in your area if you operate remotely). If you are a blog owner, reach out to companies you think would be a good fit for a banner or affiliate and propose a deal to them. No matter what business you own you will always need to land new customers.

Marketing your company should ultimately land in new customers and/or increased sales. If your goal is growth consider investing in marketing in the New Year.

Prioritize Effectively

I can’t stress enough the importance of prioritizing effectively. Prioritizing will help you manage your time better, which is an incredibly limited resource for small business owners.

As the owner of this blog, I’ve spent countless hours writing content, commenting on blogs, marketing on social media, and working with advertisers. I only have so much time and it becomes quickly apparent to any business owner that you will never get through your to-do list. Some things that have become a habit for me, such as blog commenting, may not be the best use of my time. This begs the question of whether to outsource it, quit it entirely, or do it on a limited basis.

No matter what decisions you face in regards to your time, there is often no easy answer. The best thing you can do for your business is to constantly re-evaluate your priorities and make sure you are investing your time and money in the things that will give you sustainable long-term growth.

How do you plan on taking your business to the next level in the New Year?
____________
Photo by Dell Inc.

Check out some of our favorite personal finance resources:

Are you getting the best credit card rewards? Check out the top cash back credit card offers (updated daily)

Make extra money: 15 ways to make money from your computer

  • Get our FREE Automated Budget Spreadsheet and our Student Loan Spreadsheet

Get the First Chapter Free!

Student Loan Solution Cover - 3D

Join our online community and get the first chapter of the book Student Loan Solution absolutely FREE!

Pin
Share2
Tweet26
Email
Buffer
Share
28 Shares

David Carlson

David Carlson is the founder of Young Adult Money. He is a nationally recognized speaker and the author of Student Loan Solution (2019) and Hustle Away Debt (2016). His opinions have been featured on such media outlets as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cheddar, NBC's KARE11, and more.
Connect:

Comments Policy

Comments, responses, and other user-generated content is not provided or commissioned by this site or our advertisers. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by this website or its advertisers. It is not the responsibility of advertisers or this website to ensure that all comments and/or questions are answered. With all that being said, please comment away!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JourneytoSaving says

    It is much better to have actual values for growth, as they will let you measure your success better. These were all great points. My hope and goal for next year is to actually make a little business out of my blog. I want to take it to the next level, which is exciting and scary at the same time. There’s a lot to do to get ready for it.

    • DC @ Young Adult Money says

      JourneytoSaving Great point!  I definitely want to have benchmarks that I hope to meet with my business (which currently is essentially only this blog).  I like evaluating my goals versus actual results.  I think your blog is already set up for success, so taking it to the next level – whatever that may mean for you – is definitely attainable!

  2. RFIndependence says

    I am going after potential buyers more aggressively. So new website, social media and online reach are the first points I will tackle in the new year.

    • DC @ Young Adult Money says

      RFIndependence I think just simply starting my new blog instead of putting it off for months and months may be the best approach I can take.  It takes a while for websites to get established and start getting ranked, as I’m sure you are well aware, so my goals for 2014 may be too ambitious with only one established site and one “baby” site that needs time to grow.

  3. Beachbudget says

    We have a lot of similar goals DC! I know to make more each month next year I need to come up with some solid plans and some solid deadlines. One thing is to sell an online course on making videos for your website. It seems a lot of people have interest in that. Let’s hope so. I just have to dedicate the time to putting it together. That’s only one idea…

    • DC @ Young Adult Money says

      Beachbudget I also need to make solid plans for increasing my revenue.  If it means getting more traffic and in turn better advertising revenue or selling a product/service, that’s what I need to do.  But first step is actually writing out what it is that I need to do to reach my goal of increased income.

  4. SenseofCents says

    I have a lot of things that I want to start doing in 2014. I also want to start seeking out more customers in 2014. I have done fairly well with that this year, but next year I really want to attack that!

    • DC @ Young Adult Money says

      SenseofCents That’s awesome, Michelle!  It’s great to see you not become complacent because you’ve sort of “made it” in my opinion bringing in a very sizable income online.

Primary Sidebar

Credit Cards

  • Best Travel Rewards Cards
  • Best Balance Transfer Cards
  • Best Cash Back Credit Cards
  • Best Business And Side Hustle Credit Cards
  • Best Student Credit Cards

Start a Blog:

How to Start a Blog that Makes Money
 

Top Posts

  • 15 Ways You Can Make Money From Your Computer Right Now
  • When You Should and Shouldn’t Refinance Student Loans
  • How Much Money You Will Need to Make $1,000 in Dividends

Free Spreadsheets & Downloads

  • Free Automated Budget Spreadsheet
  • Student Loan Repayment Spreadsheet
  • The Ultimate Personal Finance Checklist
  • 401k Spreadsheet to Analyze your Options
  • Wedding Budget Spreadsheet
  • 52 Week Money Challenge Spreadsheet and Printable

First Chapter Free!

Join our online community and receive the first chapter of Student Loan Solution absolutely FREE.

If you don't see the email in your inbox, please check your spam folder.

Connect:

Categories:

Search:

Get the New Book!

Student Loan Solution: 5 Steps to Take Control of Your Student Loans and Financial Life is available on Amazon by clicking here, or by clicking on the graphic below.

Make more. Save more. Live better.

Site Directory:

  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Recommendations
  • Finance Tools
  • Credit Cards
  • Insurance
  • Banking
  • Investing

Disclaimer | Privacy Policy

Feedback? Questions?
Contact us and let us know what you think.

Connect:

Search This Site:

Copyright © 2012–2024 Young Adult Money, LLC / All Rights Reserved
Designed by LizTheresa.com / Developed by Nuts and Bolts Media

Manage your privacy

To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Statistics

Marketing

Features
Always active

Always active
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}
Manage your privacy

To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}