There’s two months left in 2024, and it goes without saying that at this time of year, there are two types of small business owners:

• Those who kick up their feet, look back on the year, and chalk all the lack of progress up to every external barrier they faced.
• Those who look back on the year, find the spots they’re still stuck on, and make a plan to blast through them before the holidays.

As the saying goes: “Winners are already thinking about January,” and it’s probably true that most small business owners are thinking about today, not about January.

So let’s change that. Here’s 3 ways you can end your 2024 strong, make some cash before the holidays, and make sure you’re set up with momentum for when January rolls back around.

Review What’s Behind You

The best way to know exactly what’s going on in your business is to make sure you’re objectively measuring your progress. This can be keeping track of your business financials, your sales numbers, and your client count, as an example. By knowing these numbers, you’ll never get caught in, “I feel like xyz is going on right now,” and end up working on the wrong thing because your gut feeling misguided you.

With the end of the year approaching, use your metrics to look back on what went well, what’s on target, and where you might have missed the mark. Once you know what you’re working with, you now have a target area to attack for the final two months of the year.

Take Away Your Personal Projections

This time of year means that some business owners will shut down their mindset on customers actually wanting to spend money. They use every reason in the book: inflation, holidays, the election, — you name it. They’re convinced that customers aren’t interested in making big purchases because they’ve allocated money elsewhere in their life, or they’ve closed their wallets for the year.

This couldn’t be anything further from the truth. Most likely, it’s your own personal projections shining through, and that needs to change. You may not be your ideal client and that’s totally okay.

Instead, understand that your customers are thinking about spending money for the next two months. They’re looking for solutions to the things they’ve struggled with all year long, and some are even desperate to create change. While you’re planning for ways to help your own business end the year with a bang, you have a great opportunity to help your clients also end their own years with a bang, too. Make sure you’re keeping up with your marketing tactics, and you’re taking care of the clients who are already working with you.

Think Further Ahead, Not Just Immediately Ahead

While you’re thinking about what to do to end 2024 strong, you also want to double down at this time of year so you can set your January up for success. With the lull of the holidays lasting the course of about two weeks at the end of December, there won’t be much happening for some at that time. What you do in the next six weeks is incredibly important to set up your January with momentum.

This might mean launching specific marketing initiatives, coming up with new offers, or adding more value to your already existing offer. The main point is: Don’t stop! If you stop your marketing, you’ll be starting even further behind when January comes along.

The worst part? We all know how hard it is to start gathering momentum in January. Do the work now and reap the benefits later.

You Can Rest Too

The idea is not to work like a dog over the holidays, but to also earn yourself some rest, too.

Imagine how easier that rest would be if you were less stressed about how full your bank account was, or that you had clients on the horizon waiting to start with you. Achieving that level of relaxation is much easier when you dig your heels in now and focus on ending your 2024 strong. Review your metrics so you have a baseline of what is lagging behind, take away your personal projections that your prospects won’t want to spend money, and make sure you’re focusing on momentum in January, not just the next week ahead.

Then, you can kick up your feet, knowing you put in a ton of effort to control what you could in your small business. That will make for a much more enjoyable holidays.

Book a Brainstorm Session, and we can chat about what’s working in your business, what’s not, and what’s slowing you down, so we can put together a Game Plan to get you moving in the right direction.