Set Yourself Up for Success in 2012 in 3 Simple Steps

This contributor post was written by Tiffany Moore.

Even though you’re likely stuck in the midst of holiday craziness, the time is here to start thinking about 2012 and how to set yourself up for success in the coming year. Today I’m offering three steps that will focus your efforts and to help ensure that 2012 is the best, most successful year to date in your creative business:

1. Set your intention for 2012

Spend some time figuring out what you want 2012 to look like for you. Not just your creative business, but your entire life. Who do you want to be? How do you want to spend your time? What goals (both personal and professional) would you like to accomplish? See What’s your Vison to help clarify if you need some tips.

2. Calendar out your big goals

Take a calendar and write out your goals for the year. Do you have a stationery business, but can’t seem to stay ahead of the holidays? Take a look at the year as a whole and determine now when you’ll need to get started on those mother’s day cards to get them to your wholesale accounts on time.

This is a great tool for helping you establish deadlines and processes as well as to help you figure out what jobs you’re able to say yes to as the year commences. The key is to stay deliberate and in control of your business, instead of having to approach it from a reactive standpoint.

3. Reflect & Repair

Now is the time to sit down and look at what worked and what didn’t work in 2012. Once you recognize what didn’t work, take some time to come up with a game plan for the new year.

For example, if you have no clear way of tracking the financial components of your various income streams (full disclosure: I’m totally guilty of this myself), now is the time to devise a system for 2012 so that you don’t find yourself scrambling in February to backtrack and set something up on the fly.

The key is to start with systems in place on January 1 so that the year will run as smoothly as possible. It can be done, I assure you!

Resource Roundup:

Jessica Swift’s printable 2012 Goal & Intentions Kit
Jennifer Lee’s Right Brain Business Plan
Craft Inc. Business Planner
Outright for small business accounting (Note: I have heard amazing things about this system and will be checking it out shortly. I’ll definitely report back to let you know what I think!)
Ali Edwards’ One Little Word 2012

What are YOU doing to set yourself up for success next year? Do you have any helpful resources to share?

I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

*image via stefanie renee photography: pink royal typewriter

Tiffany Moore, co-founder of Teahouse Studio is an artist, life coach, change agent and magic maker. She helps creatives live their happiest, most sparkly lives (starting NOW) and thinks that everyone in the world is beautiful, including you.