As the year comes to a close, it’s time to set New Year’s resolutions. As you know from working with your clients, setting goals is important for success. Working towards a specific and measurable goal provides structure for growth and boosts motivation. This extends to your wellness business, so setting the right goals now will help put your business on track for steady growth in the upcoming year.

Gather inspiration to kick off 2018 destined for success with these 3 New Year’s Resolutions you need to set for a successful new year:

1. Develop And Execute A Concrete Marketing Plan

Most nutrition and wellness professionals unfortunately do not have formal business and marketing experience. If you feel out of your comfort zone with the business and marketing aspects of running your practice, you’re not alone! However, as a business owner, it is essential to have strategies in place to accelerate growth. Prior planning helps your performance peak!

There are many different types of marketing you can utilize to grow your business. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and recruit your close family and friends for help. To get started, identify one thing you will do or work towards each month to accomplish your marketing goals.

Consider the following when developing your marketing plan:

• Who is your ideal clientele?
• Is your ideal client active on social media? Are you? What social media platform does your ideal client use?
• Who do you know that can help you grow your practice? For example, are any of your friends or family members physicians or personal trainers or other potential referrers?
• What is your marketing budget? There are many free marketing methods you can use too!
• How can you get active in your community to spread the word about your business?
• What materials do you need to succeed?
• What courses or continuing education can you attain to grow your marketing education?

2. Make Networking A Priority

Small businesses thrive based on who you know… not always what you know! Although being knowledgeable about nutrition and wellness is a must, to create buzz about your business, networking needs to be a priority this year.

Networking sometimes gets a bad rap, as overwhelming and even disingenuous, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Be genuine when choosing your networking opportunities. One-on-one networking can be just as effective as showing up to an industry event.

If you’re a networking newbie, here are a few things to consider:

• Create a list of people in your current network whose brain you’d like to pick. Invite them out for coffee or lunch.
• Find people who are already doing what you want to be doing. It’s OK if others already exist in your niche; there’s room for everyone! You can learn so much by connecting with those who have been there before you.
• Search for local networking events. Many large cities have meetups for health professionals. If you’re in a rural neighborhood, search for online networking opportunities.
• Choose 1 or 2 large conferences you think will be worthwhile to attend. Plan for these events and include travel costs in your budget.

3. Avoid Activities That Are Not Helping Your Growth

We often fall into habits, like spending hours scrolling through Instagram or Twitter, even though, in reality, these activities may not be the best way to help you accrue new clients. Whatever activities you currently do which may not directly contribute to business growth should be limited during business hours. This may seem instinctive, but it is easy to lose sight of what directly contributes to practice growth.

Channel your energy and time into useful methods of client acquisition. To determine which activities are most beneficial for your business, try these two exercises:

• Keep a list of how your clients found you. What’s your most common referral source?
• Record a time log of how you spend your hours each day. How many hours do you spend on social media versus with clients versus developing your marketing strategy or creating content? Free tools, like Toggl, can help you track your time.‍