I posted this in the Commerical Lawn forum, but thought it was pretty good so I would share it with everyone on this thread as well..
At this time every year I sit down for a few hours and reflect on the past season. I make a list of the following:
All of the positive things that happened:
Some examples are, equipment purchases, new customers, things I've learned, new employees, improvements to current systems, snowy winter, built a salt dome at our yard, get my CDL, become more DOT compliant
All of the negative things that happened:
Some examples are: Losing customers/contracts, equipment damage, losing a good employee, a Snow-less winter, keeping a bad employee around too long, had X amount of workers comp claims,
My predictions for the upcoming season, things I want to focus on, make changes to, get better at etc:
Some examples are, invoice on a weekly basis, not monthly. Email more invoices, start accepting credit cards, build a new website, take a vacation, improve our employee handbook, put out more job signs, update the business facebook page more often, take more before & after pics, focus on raising employee morale, take a company deep sea fishing trip, keep trucks/trailers washed & clean more often, put GPS units in all trucks
Then I do a follow up on the previous year's predictions.
So I list my thoughts on last year's predictions...did they go as planned? Did they totally get pushed to the side & forgotten about? There are some things that have been on my list for years to try & change and they never get done!
This is one of my favorite things to do each year so I thought I would share it with everyone. I have been doing it since 2004. It is interesting to go back a few years and see what things I used to worry about etc. It also helps you see the strides you've made year to year.
The examples I gave are not my actual 2012 list, but they have all been on my list at one time or another throughout the years. I just wanted to give some random examples.