As we head into a new year, this is always a hectic time for remodeling businesses everywhere. Deadline-driven projects for anxious clients need to be completed. Your subcontractors and vendors are very busy. Many of your employees probably are getting back to work after a long holiday break.

Before we get too far into the first quarter of the year, take time to “take stock”. Doing so can make you a lot of money this year. Here is what I am talking about.

Gather the Information from the Previous Year

You, or the appropriate team member, lists month-by-month the following:

• Projects sold
• Project completed
• Employees hired
• Employees fired

For each of these note the significant aspects of the event.

Gather Your Advisory Board

With your key team members review each event and lay out:

• What went well and how can we repeat those events.
• What did not go well and how can we avoid repeating those events.

This meeting will take about one hour. Make sure everybody talks. Part of what you are doing is clearing the air.

Gather the Outcomes

Agree upon what the company should try to do more of in the coming year. That could be:

• Looking for the right kinds of clients.
• How to avoid the wrong kinds of clients.
• What subcontractors the company should keep on working with.
• What subcontractors the company should stop working with.
• How to find more and recruit the right kind of employees.
• How to avoid hiring the inappropriate kind of employees.

Gather the Insights

Integrate all the above into a one page business plan for the coming year.

The idea is to benefit from the lessons learned and avoid learning them over and over.

With the one page business plan in place you can create a budget that reflects all you and your team learned.

Gather the Profits

By stopping now and taking stock, your company is likely to be even more successful this year. Why?

• The company will be doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
• The result is more money earned.

Too busy to do what I am suggesting? I used to feel the same way.

What made me change? Getting sick and tired of repeating the same learning experiences year after year.

Take responsibility for the future of you, your employees, your company and your clients by stopping now and taking stock. It could be the most profitable move you make this year.