We all know the reality around new beginnings and there’s some disappointing stats on how low the numbers are of those that are discarded (18 days for most of us apparently) – but – that doesn’t mean that they’re doomed to fail. It means that we need to step back and be a bit more realistic about exactly what change we’re looking to make.

As an example, I tell myself every year that I’ll go to the gym at least three days a week. In reality, I detest the gym (I’m much more of a runner) and so it’s unrealistic of me to think I’ll suddenly start doing it so frequently. This year, I’m focusing instead on doing yoga daily (even if only 10 minutes) to begin to bring in some element of strength training, in the hope that it’ll naturally build up and I’ll suddenly feel a desire to pump iron… we’ll see!

Anyway, bringing this back round to running an advice business and what resolutions may help you this year, that aren’t overly unrealistic, here’s some food for thought:

Don’t resolve: to sign up to loads of random new bits of tech in the hope one of them will suddenly fix all your woes.

Instead: write a list of the key, real pain points in your business, prioritise them from most painful to least, and then focus on the one at the top. Consider all the different ways to address this challenge; sure, tech might be part of the answer, but at present, there’s no silver bullet in finance that fixes all of a business owners’ woes (that I have come across!) and spending a huge amount of time and energy looking for it can just exacerbate your challenges.

Choosing one challenge, focusing on fixing that, will yield better results and, with a tiny bit of mental space created, you can start to look at the next issue on your list.

Don’t resolve: to make your business compliant this year.

Instead: resolve to improve your processes and data this year. Compliance with rules and regulations is an outcome from certain behaviours, it’s not a separate line item to consider and making a resolution as generic as the above is unlikely to achieve positive results.

Break your business down into core elements and look at how they can be improved, with compliance being the natural output, such as:

• FCA reporting – ensure back office systems are fully populated, the team are trained on using them and you understand how to extract relevant data so there’s no duplication
• File checking – use your compliance provider to give you the framework for each file check, what docs are needed and in what order. Implement this structure as an internal process, so everyone adheres to the same, compliant approach and your file checkers can quickly and easily get the data they need
• Training & competency – don’t re-invent the wheel. Hundreds of thousands of people have been signed off as competent over the years, which means processes exist and you can efficiently train people to the relevant standards.

As you can see, being ‘compliant’ is down to how you do things, not just what you do.

Don’t resolve: to use a load of outsourcers to fix the business challenges you have.

Instead: look to get the structure you want in place first, and then outsource the resource for it. Since the early days of Para-Sols (16 years ago!) I’ve been telling business owners that they, sadly, cannot outsource a problem (believe me, I’ve tried it myself!) No-one has the insight into your business that you have and no-one can see the vision of where you want it to go. Outsourcing resource is an excellent way of getting comparatively low cost, flexible support, but only works if you know exactly what you’re outsourcing and the output you need.

There’s so much more I could share on this, but I’ve got a yoga class to get to!

Good luck with kicking off the new year in style and drop the team a line if we can help with anything.

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