Now is the time to lay the foundation for the new year. Why? So that you can hit the road running after the festive period.

Here are some ideas as to what you need to take a look at:

• Review your Business plan. Business plans are not set in concrete. Does your original assumptions still ring true? Adjust and amend where necessary.
• Clutter destroys energy according to Feng Shui experts. Go through your office with a fine comb. Go through every pile of documents – Decide what is relevant,necessary to keep, otherwise dump it. Go through your filing cabinets – Remember a filing system should not be like a goldmine, where you have to move mountains of ore to get to the pieces of gold.
• Update your media and mailing lists, your Rolodex. Your online social network lists. Re- evaluate your relationships with those in your network. Who should you be spending more time with?
• Re-evaluate your Consultancy’s Marketing and Publicity Plan. Are you still reaching your target market? If you are not, change what you are doing and
  plan something new. Remember the words of Richard Saunders: The only way to get a significantly different result is to do something significantly different.
• Re-evaluate your elevator speech. An Elevator speech is a 10-15 word statement of what you do and why it is valuable to a client. Are your message still in synch with what you do?
• What about your working environment? Is it set up for efficiency? Are your waiting room chairs comfortable? Are your magazines current and appropriate? Your office is a reflection of who you are.
• What was your customer service levels like? Did you promise less, but delivered twice what you promised. If not, make that your goal for the new year.
• What about balance in your own life? How’s your health? A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. If you need to make dietary and other lifestyle
  changes, plan for it now. And include it on your New year resolution list.

The bottom line is this: Set yourself up now for success. That way you can enjoy the New Year with the assurance that you are in control.

There are resources out there that can really assist you to become more effective and efficient in your consulting work, including:

• The GTD system of David Allen – GTD
• The Marketing a Consulting Practice workshop

These resources fulfil two criteria, as follows:

1. They use the concept of Modelling. Modelling is a Tony Robbins concept. In his book “Unlimited Power” he speaks of the concept of modelling i.e.” To become successful, you need to model yourself on the knowledge, skills and attitudes of successful people…By role modelling them you can shorten the very expensive learning curve and become successful far quicker yourself”.
2. The concept of Leverage Points. Researchers in systems thinking speak about leverage points – those small, well-focused actions that can, when used at the right time and in the right place, produce significant, lasting benefits exponentially beyond the effort required to take the action step itself.

These are the steps needed to start to work ON your business,  not just IN your business.