
It’s January – the time of year to set goals and get organized!
To help you get things in order for the year ahead, we’re sharing some tips and strategies that have been useful to the herd.
Add Key Dates to Your Calendar
Do you feel like you’re still sifting through your inbox after logging off for the holidays? One simple way to help you find a bit of order amid the chaos is to update your work calendar with important dates.
What to include:
Deadlines. And maybe set a reminder a week prior.
Appointments, so you don’t forget, and so your team isn’t surprised when you’re out of the office.
Team member birthdays, which can also serve as fun social media content.
Holidays that you and your team observe. These also make for great social media content. (May we suggest National Cookie Day?)
Conferences and networking events.
The last day to cancel any free trials you’ve signed up for before your credit card gets charged.
Clean Up Project Management Programs
The last week of work before the holidays is all about getting through everything on what feels like a never-ending to-do list, often involving longer-than-usual work days to ensure that all projects are wrapped up before you turn on your out-of-office responder.
We’re guessing that tidying up your project management programs wasn’t at the top of your list of priorities. (No shade! It wasn’t our top priority, either.)
This is an ideal January project! Open up whatever project management tool you use (we use Asana), and start by updating anything that was overlooked in the pre-holiday rush. Then archive or remove old tasks, set new reminders and recurring deadlines, and input new project info.

Audit Everything
OK, perhaps not everything. But the beginning of the year is a great time to assess what’s working well, what could be working better, and what is no longer working for you and your business. A few areas worth auditing are:
Branding Materials
Whether or not you plan to update your branding materials, reviewing them is always a useful exercise. You may find that everything is hunky-dory, but you also may find that it’s time to update your brand colours, design a new business card, or even do a complete brand refresh.
Website
When was the last time your website had a refresh? Is it still visually and tonally representative of your brand? Is the information up to date? Is it user friendly? Review your website from your customers' perspective and make note of anything that needs to be updated.
Social Media
Regular social media audits can give you valuable insights into the overall impact of your social media presence, and can help you shape your ongoing social media strategy. (And don't worry if you're not sure where to start. We’ve got you covered.)
Subscriptions
Are you getting your money’s worth from the software and digital tools you’re paying for? Make a list of all of your subscriptions and think about whether they are essential for your business.
If there’s a subscription you truly don’t need anymore or a free trial you forgot to cancel, get rid of it right away. (But that won’t be a problem in the future because those deadlines are all going in your calendar, right?)
For anything that is essential, investigate whether there’s a subscription tier that would be more suitable (can you get away with a basic plan or should you upgrade to the pro version?), or if it would be worthwhile to switch from a monthly to annual payment plan. And if you’re on the fence about something, start tracking how frequently you use it and reevaluate in a few months.

Set Professional Development Goals
Is there a new skill you want to learn, or an existing skill you’d like to improve? Is there an area of expertise for which you’d like to be known as your team’s go-to person? January is a great time to not only set your professional development goals, but also to research training or professional learning opportunities.
Once you start looking, you’ll probably find that there’s no shortage of conferences, workshops, and courses at a variety of budget levels to choose from. And depending on what you find, you may have something else to add to your calendar!
Comentários