Welcome to The Water Trough, where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drost of The Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've always wanted.

Welcome back to the water trough. This is Ed Draws to the small business doctor. And let me start off by saying happy holidays to everyone during this time of year. We, of course, are caught up in so many things., suffice to say, we all have a busy agenda at this time of year. And so I'm wishing for you and your families camaraderie and friendship I hope these things will come together for you in a very, very positive way. So speaking of this time of year the end of one and the beginning of another year, quite a year, it's been 2024. We have a, variety of things that are taking place. We've got a new. Presidential administration coming in, in 2025,

That will certainly usher in changes that will impact us as small business people as well as the average person at large.

Looking forward to the Upcoming year. I would just like to share a couple of thoughts that always go through my head at this time of year I am forever being inundated, what New Year's resolutions and the things that I'm going to do in the new year and that I'm going to accomplish that. I don't seem to have accomplished before. I'm going to do X, Y and Z and I might get it. Partway through X and dabble of Y and never got around to Z. It's always been curious to me. We focus on this time of year to be attentive to, our goals. Those of us in business and small business, particularly the idea of having goals and being able to. Continuously monitor them and assess them for practicality functionality and viability is very important.

The key point here is that goals can be established at any time they can be established at the end of a year, the beginning of the next year or whatever. And certainly those of us in small business often do create goals for the upcoming year. It's a convenient period of time to look at. It's a measurable and definable period of time. And so we compare it to previous years performance and trying to gauge. What the next year will look like, but the most important element to keep in mind is that we continuously monitor and assess these goals. Not so much with our personal goals, our New Year's resolutions, for example, those things certainly are things that we're desirous of and don't get me wrong. Not me, but some of us are quite capable of getting things done. We set those goals and we really rely upon that time of year to, to get us in shape and to get us on track. And for those who can achieve those things, that's fantastic. But broadly speaking in business, it's an ongoing process. It doesn't begin. At the end of the year and stop, perhaps at the end of the month of January or things of that sort. Our process is an ongoing process, constant, continual monitoring for effectiveness and efficiency with the goals that we've established. Small business is dynamic and the operations within the company, as well as the realities of the environment. Thank you very much. External to us are forever changing. And so we must be very diligent to ensure that things are going in the manner that we wish that they will go using this time of year as an opportunity to clear out the cobwebs in our head, our individual heads, and to develop a greater sense of clarity is probably a pretty good use of a business owner's time. The idea of the personal New Year's resolution is good for that, an opportunity to gain further focus, to develop greater clarity around what our goals and intention for the business will be in the year that follows. Needless to say, losing, 10 pounds might be a great personal goal, but at the same time it does tend to draw us into a state of focus and being able to take that personal focus and apply it to our business goals as well is a pretty decent side effect of the new year's resolution activity. I think it's fair to say that most of us to some degree have Use the New Year's resolution as a tool to at least give us a chance to get back on track. And I propose strongly that that clarity that we do develop around a New Year's resolution is something that we should bring forward into our business operations, our business goal planning at the beginning of a new year. Now this is not to say that we can't do these things at other times, and certainly everyone has their own preferred time stamp on when goals are set, when measurements are made, and so on and so forth.

Blah, blah, blah. So, the idea of New Year's resolutions, this time of year, and all the things that go through our heads. Why not make use of that opportunity to put a little bit more clarity into your business goals as well. Really what I'm saying is take advantage of that mindset that you would like to do things for yourself, and the clarity that results from that, the effort and the energy that is developed from those goals. Goal setting processes is something that might also impact your business. What have you got to lose? It's an opportunity. Give it a go. That's it for this episode of the water trough. It is the holiday season. We're all running short on time, so I'll keep this thing quite brief. I want to wish you and your families happy holidays. And I want to wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2025. From the Watertroft, this is Ed Drozda, the Small Business Doctor. Until we meet again, I want to wish you a healthy business.