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2023 is right around the corner. Are you ready for it?
A new year is often viewed as a fresh start. It closes the door on one chapter and opens another. Culturally, a lot of us view the new year as a time to begin anew, make improvements, and build the lives we want.
Because the new year coincides with Q4 ending and Q1 beginning, a lot of businesses treat it as a fresh start, too, and make elaborate plans to ensure the new year is their most successful one yet.
That’s why we’re here.
We want your repair shop to have an awesome 2023. And hey, we genuinely hope to be part of it. But we’re here to share a secret with you: a good new year doesn’t just happen.
You can’t wish it into existence. A good new year happens because you’ve learned your lessons from the old year—and planned accordingly.
Does it seem like a lot of work? It doesn’t have to. And we’re here to help—read on for our top five tips to get 2023 started off with a bang.
Evaluate your shop’s performance in 2022.
You can’t move forward if you don’t know how you’ve done. Sit down with your accountant (or yourself, if you’re the accountant) and look over everything.
Some of the questions to ask yourself:
- What were your expenses?
- What was your revenue?
- What kind of pain points did you face?
Make a financial plan.
Hey, how do you accurately schedule growth? You plan for it.
Our friends at Fullbay have a good post about how to make a financial plan. They’ve even got a simple financial plan you can copy and use for your own shop’s adventures.
Determine how you want to grow.
A key component of your financial plan is deciding how you want to grow. It’s important enough that we’ve separated it out, because we really want you to think about this.
Ask yourself things like:
- Do you want to hire more techs, or other employees?
- Do you want to increase revenue by a specific percent?
- Do you want to get a few new fleets?
- Do you want to expand into another building, or start a mobile branch?
Invest in necessary equipment if you’ve got the cash on hand.
We are not suggesting running out and buying a boat with the company credit card, but you should review what you want to do in ’23 and see if you can invest in anything now. Why? Because you’re eligible for tax benefits this year if you purchase them before the end of Q4.
Maybe you need a new lift. Maybe you’re finally going to invest in shop management software to help you streamline your workflow and optimize technician efficiency (hey, Fullbay is really good at that, maybe try them out!). Maybe you want to hire a real bookkeeper instead of staring into the vast abyss of finances yourself.
Get your marketing in order for 2023.
Marketing plans do not appear in a vacuum. Or rather, good marketing plans don’t appear in a vacuum. If you’re going all-in with your marketing and are ready to invest in things like a new website or Google Business presence, then you definitely need to get started now. If you don’t, and hold off until January or February, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage and starting behind.
For example, our team can build out a professional-looking, functional website for your shop in 4-6 weeks. Once your site is up, it can take about a month to rank well for some search terms, and 3-6 months to start ranking for others.
You can see why we encourage you to start the process now. If you start in January, you aren’t ready to kick off a proper marketing campaign until March, at least!
Are you feeling jazzed about your shop’s potential? Ready to start January off like an absolute boss? Then get in touch with us! We can’t wait to help you make 2023 your best year yet.
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