What’s Your 2020 Business Resolution?
By Julie Bawden-Davis
February 18, 2020
These 19 entrepreneurs share their business resolutions and goals for the coming year.
Now that 2020 has just gotten started, you’ve most likely set some business resolutions for the coming year.
“Business owners are often pulled in a lot of directions, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose sight of our goals,” says Mac Fadra, CEO of MAXiM Hair Restoration. “While not contractual or binding, business resolutions are a great way to set goals for your company.”
When you’re making plans for your company, it can help to hear about the plans other business owners are making. I asked 18 people to share what their top business resolutions for 2020 are, and here’s what they had to say.
Focus on Giving Back
“My business has grown from just me to 10 full-time employees and 20 instructors. This year, among my business resolutions is to significantly increasing philanthropic contributions, community outreach and financial rewards to employees. I think that business owners sometimes forget how impactful we are to the lives of our customers, employees and their families, and the community.”
—Shaan Patel, founder, Prep Expert
“As an agency, we have always taken great pride in supporting causes that benefit our greater community. From 10 pro-bono events we produce each year, to the days allotted to employees for out-of-office community service, we will continue to support giving back to causes in 2020 by allotting dedicated staff hours to social good.”
Build Brand Awareness
“I intend to focus on building brand awareness for my business resolutions. This will ultimately help boost sales and make my products grow in popularity with consumers. To make my resolutions a reality, we will continue to create opportunities to educate consumers on the benefits of our product, compared to others on the market.”
—Nakia Hall, founder and inventor, BouncyBoo
I plan to focus on satisfying repeat patients who see us regularly and refer us to their family and friends. While I’m always happy to treat new patients, I do value and tend to make a priority the longevity of recurring patients.
—Ziad Jalbout, founder, Making You Smile Cosmetic Dental Studio
“In terms of business resolutions, I plan to raise brand awareness and increase the number of people who know about us, try our products and trust us to supply their needs.”
—Vinay Amin, health expert and CEO, Eu Natural
Boost Digital IQ and Exposure
“We recognize that most consumers these days will leverage technology in multiple ways to find businesses online. Boosting our digital IQ in 2020 will help us further our potential in generating new customers through our digital marketing efforts. This will include refining our understanding of our website’s content management system so we can make updates for SEO value and create and share videos.”
—Bryan and Patty Sibbach, owners, Precision Training Concepts
“I plan to take advantage of the growth in streaming, as well an increasingly connected world, by continuing to expand our presence internationally in the streaming media intelligence category.”
—Bill Demas, CEO, Conviva
Increase and Enhance Productivity
“In terms of business resolutions, I want 2020 to be a year where I am more productive and not just busy. This means keeping an eye on trends and events that may affect my future business. This also means developing win-win relationships with other companies and individuals, which is important to sustain our company and build a pipeline for the future.”
—James Cassel, chairman and co-founder, Cassel Salpeter & Co.
“We aim to ensure greater coordination between our team members and accordingly use new processes and tools to increase productivity. This is important, because when used properly, these tools help keep the entire team in the loop, enforce deadlines and ensure smooth delivery.”
—Avinash Chandra, founder and CEO, BrandLoom
Consult With Employees on Business Resolutions
“In business, a resolution made by company leaders will rarely guarantee performance. I plan on involving employees, who are the ones that make the goals happen. Involving as many people as possible in setting goals ensures we’re headed toward the same goals. It’s easy to stop one guy…pretty hard to stop a hundred.”
—Steve Baker, vice-president, The Great Game of Business
“I plan to have lunch once a week with different members of my team. There are few better ways to bond with employees and learn more about them than over a meal. I can learn a great deal from everyone’s unique experiences and perspectives.”
—Abhi Lokesh, CEO and co-founder, Fracture
Invest in Culture
“In a short time, we’ve more than doubled our employees, moving from a close-knit team of mavericks to a much bigger team. It’s been an interesting education in observing how fragile culture is and how it develops as companies grow. My business resolutions for 2020 are to delegate some of the cultural nurturing to members in the team with an interest in safeguarding what we’ve built, as well as developing new channels for input, feedback and collaboration, as we continue to expand.”
—Nana Wereko-Brobby, head of communications, HomeHero
“We plan on keeping our work culture involved and fun. For 2020, this will include weekly team roundtables to discuss client accounts and team outings.
We’ll also be implementing team volunteer days to contribute to our team’s sense of social impact.”
—Alicia Piazza, president, The Spark Social
Prioritize Customer Service
“I plan to focus on satisfying repeat patients who see us regularly and refer us to their family and friends. While I’m always happy to treat new patients, I do value and tend to make a priority the longevity of recurring patients.”
—Ziad Jalbout, founder, Making You Smile Cosmetic Dental Studio
“My New Year’s business resolutions will focus on spending more time with our clients. Like most CEOs, at the start of the journey, I took personal responsibility for revenue generation and getting new clients. Over time, as other responsibilities grew, I became less client facing. Getting out and seeing clients is invaluable and really sparks ideas and innovation. It’ll be a challenge to balance the time I spend in the office with my team and out meeting clients, but I’m excited about the prospect.”
—Mark Allwood, CEO, GlobalX
“I plan to engage more with my clients. In 2020, we want to continue our workshop demos on Saturdays so people can continue to learn the process of jewelry making. By doing so, clients can understand exactly where the prices we are charging them are coming from and genuinely feel that what they’re buying is curated just for them.”
—Samuel Tang, designer and owner, Joy Creations
Focus on Strategic Thinking
“Improving initiatives through better strategic thinking allows us to challenge everything we do and how and why we do it. We plan to ask, is this really making our company better and using resources, such as time, wisely?”
—Steve Willis, managing director, milliCare Floor & Textile Care
“In the past, I have started programs and pulled them too quickly. Moving forward, I’m making business resolutions to plan more of the long game. Everything doesn’t need to be done today. With more of a long game focus, there can be greater success.”
—Kristin George, digital PR manager, Ignite Visibility
“For 2020, my business resolutions are all based around innovation and being disruptive, so we always have new ideas. We’ll schedule more brainstorming sessions, and ideas will be rewarded with incentives. This way, we can offer our customers exciting new features and keep at least two steps ahead of the competition.”
—Andrea Loubier, CEO, Mailbird
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