15 Tasks Small Business Owners Should Get Off Their Plate Before the End of the Year
The end of the year has a way of sneaking up on small business owners.
You’re trying to finish client work, plan for the holidays, think about next year and somehow deal with all the administrative tasks that have been pushed aside for the last several months.
Before you decide that December is the month you’re finally going to tackle everything yourself, take another look at that list.
A lot of those tasks don’t actually need to be done by you.
Here are 15 things you can delegate before the end of the year so you can start January feeling a little more organized.
1. Clean Up Your Inbox
Archive old messages, organize folders, flag conversations that need follow up and unsubscribe from the emails you never read.
2. Organize Your Calendar
Review recurring meetings, remove outdated appointments and get important dates onto next year’s calendar.
3. Clean Up Your CRM
Duplicate contacts, outdated information, inconsistent tags and abandoned opportunities can make your CRM harder to use than it needs to be.
A year end cleanup gives you better information to work with when January arrives.
4. Update Your Contact Lists
Review client, prospect, vendor and networking contacts. Update missing information and organize contacts into useful groups.
5. Organize Digital Files
If your folders have become a collection of files named “final,” “final2” and “reallyfinal,” it might be time.
Organize documents, create a consistent folder structure and archive what you no longer need.
6. Review Outstanding Follow Ups
Go through emails, your CRM and your notes to identify people you meant to follow up with but never did.
7. Organize Your Social Media Content
Gather graphics, photos, captions and content ideas into one place so you’re not starting from scratch every time you need to post.
8. Schedule Upcoming Social Content
Prepare some of your December and January posts ahead of time.
Your future self will appreciate opening the laptop in January and discovering that something is already done.
9. Research Potential Clients
Build a targeted prospect list so you have people to reach out to when business gets moving again after the holidays.
10. Research Podcast and Media Opportunities
If visibility is one of your goals for next year, start identifying podcasts, publications and speaking opportunities that fit your expertise.
11. Update Business Documents
Review frequently used templates, client documents, forms and internal resources to make sure you’re starting the new year with current versions.
12. Review Your Subscriptions and Tools
Make a list of the software and services your business is paying for and identify anything you’re no longer using.
13. Organize Your Project List
Look at unfinished projects and decide what needs to be completed, delegated, postponed or removed from the list altogether.
14. Prepare January Tasks
Create your January priorities now instead of trying to remember everything when you return after the holidays.
15. Make a List of What You Should Stop Doing Yourself
This might be the most important one.
Look at the tasks you handled this year and ask yourself which ones actually required you.
If someone else could handle the research, organization, scheduling, data entry, follow up or administrative work, it may be time to stop automatically putting those tasks on your own list.
Start the New Year With Less on Your Plate
Getting organized before the end of the year doesn’t mean you need to spend December buried in administrative work.
Cavaleri Collective provides flexible virtual support for small businesses, whether you need ongoing help or simply have a project that needs to get done.
From administrative support and social media to CRM organization, research and outreach, I can help you clear some of the work that’s been sitting on your list.
Ready to get something off your plate?