Year-end reviews are crucial for growth-oriented equestrian entrepreneurs. While profit should be part of growth, your best year-end review goes further than just the bottom line. Include these three components to catapult you into the coming year with focus, purpose, and a plan.
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Before you set goals for the new year, every equestrian entrepreneur must make the time to review the year that’s ending.
Yes, you should know your profit margin, but the most effective year-end reviews go further than just the bottom line.
Before you dive into these key components that will supercharge your year-end review, grab two things: a notebook and your calendar.
Your notebook is for writing down the components and key questions in this year-end review. Your calendar is to schedule a time for the review!
If you don’t set a date to make this happen, then it’s not going to happen. And, this is too important to skip!
What is a year-end review for your equestrian business?
Essentially, this is a time you set aside to look back with intention and gratitude and ask some specific questions about how you’ll take what you learned this year and apply it to the coming year.
If you have a year-end review process, consider this episode an opportunity to add to or refine your process.
If you don’t have one, here you go! Borrow this one.
3 Key Components That Will Supercharge Your Year-end Review for Equestrian Entrepreneurs
Key Component # 1: Clear definition of success.
Everything you do in your business needs to be filtered through a clear mission. It’s the heart of your business — your why.
When you have a clear mission, you can review the year by running every success, problem, milestone, and measurement through this as your filter.
Clearly defined success also means you have goals, giving you a focus for where to put your energy and efforts. Each year, your business needs written short-term and long-term goals so you can easily measure progress.
(No goals yet? Grab my FREE Goal-Setting Guide here!)
Key Component # 2: Data tracking.
In order to truly track progress, it’s essential to measure what matters. What matters is what is moving the needle toward your goals and helping you to live out your mission.
"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress." — Alfred A. Montapert
Key Component # 3: After action review.
After action reviews are used within the military and organizations to assess events and their corresponding training outcomes.
Review without action steps leaves you with a “So what?” What really makes a year-end review supercharged is when it sets you up for an even better year ahead.
As you look over your data through the filter of your mission, ask yourself 3 key questions:
What worked?
What didn’t work?
What will you change, continue, or discontinue?
BONUS Component # 4: Gratitude
Regardless of where you fall on meeting, missing, or exceeding your goals, make a list of what you’re grateful for from the year.
“The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.” — Norman Vincent Peale
Here are some ideas to get your gratitude list flowing:
Successful or milestone moments
Specific clients or customers or horses
Suppliers
Team
Things you learned
Processes in place
Investments you made in yourself or your business
Didn’t meet your goals this year?
Consider redefining success here – you showed up!
Were you consistent?
Did you grow professionally? How?
Did you grow personally – because as entrepreneurs that’s intertwined with business? How?
Did you learn?
Celebrate progress!
"Some quit due to slow progress. Never grasping the fact that slow progress is progress."
— Jeff Olson
Now, you’re ready to set your goals for the coming year for your equestrian business.
If you don’t have a goal-setting process, use mine!
→ You’ll get a simple, effective strategy for setting goals for your business that you’ll actually stick to in the year. We’ll break it down by quarters and then get action steps in place so that what you’re doing on a regular basis is aligned with the goals you said you wanted to make happen for your business.
Of course, you'll want to listen to the full episode to dig into each of the insights shared and discover how you can apply each one in your horse business!
Ready to set yourself up for success in the coming year? Take the Reins 1:1 Coaching will give you a step-by-step roadmap to get there.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
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