Blog
The Key to Dramatically Improving Your Business in the 2nd Half of this Year
June 7, 2023
Category: Achieve Consistent Business Success
If you watch sports like football, basketball, or soccer, you know that what happens at halftime is critical to the success of the team. That’s when the team discusses what worked and didn’t work in the first half and decides on what adjustments to make in the 2nd half to win the game.
Well, when the clock struck midnight on June 30th, it marked the end of the 1st half of 2023 for us small business owners and it’s a great time to pause, head for the locker room and make the halftime adjustments you need to ensure that you have a winning year.
Unfortunately, because this is such a busy time of year, I’ve found that most business owners don’t do halftime or make halftime adjustments. So, I’m going to share a simple, but powerful technique that I use with my clients that I call the “Check-In” process. This “check-in” process will only take you about two hours and has the power to improve the growth and profitability of your business dramatically in the second half of 2023.
Here’s how to do your halftime check-in:
1. Block out two hours of uninterrupted time.
And when I say block out 2 hours, I mean 2 hours with no phone calls, texts, or questions from employees. Put a do not disturb sign on the door or whatever it takes to help you stay focused.
2. Take stock of where you are compared to where you expected you’d be at the end of the first half of 2023.
- Look at your financial results (your sales, gross profits, and net profit) compared to your goals and compared to last year. Are you where you expected you would be?
- What are the top wins or successes so far this year that you want to celebrate? What other positive things happened?
It’s important to celebrate successes as well as be critical of what’s not working. So, pat yourself on the back for all the good things you’ve done over the last six months.
- Also list the things you intended to do in your business in the 1st half, but didn’t get around to?
3. Determine what’s working and not working in all areas of your business.
- Now let’s look at positives and areas needing improvement in different areas of your business. Think about your financial results, your team, your service delivery, yourself, and any other area of the business you can think of.
- What are the positives?
- What areas stand out as clearly needing improvement? Which Areas? What needs attention?
Write down as many things as come to mind. The idea in this step is to come up with as many as you can think of. Don’t edit yet.
- Write down any challenges or barriers you see to reaching your goals for this year?
4. Set your priorities for the 2nd half of the year
- Now, boil down the list of challenges and areas needing improvement that you created in Step 3 to identify the 2 to 5 key priority areas to work on in the 2nd half that will make the greatest difference in achieving your goals this year.
Why only 2 to 5 areas? Because most of us business owners only have time to tackle 5 or fewer priorities at a time, and it is better to get a few important things done well than to have a long list of priorities that never get done!
- Also, list the things that you did in the 1st half that worked well and you’ll continue doing.
- Finally, create a simple action plan for each priority area you will work on in the 2nd half describing the steps you will take and the timing. This will help ensure that you will complete your key priorities.
5. Get back in the game
Ok, your two hour halftime us up. It’s time to get back in the game. Keep your 2nd half game plan close at hand and use it to guide you to a winning 2023!
This one simple activity of checking in and making halftime adjustments can literally make the difference between success and floundering in your business. Really. It will help you focus your limited time, energy and money on the things that matter most to making your business a success. It will also save you countless hours because you won’t be wasting time on things that are irrelevant or don’t work.
One final thought: if you have a management team, do this check-in process with them. It’s a a great way for you to make sure that they are doing what they need to do to ensure their function’s success and it’s a great coaching and development tool!
Give it a try! You’ll be glad you did!
