WHAT’S YOUR NEW YEAR’S BUSINESS RESOLUTION?

How do your goals for growing your company compare to others? Fifteen leaders each share one New Year’s business resolution they’re making in 2018. DECEMBER 27, 2017 Another new year is just about here. Your wheels are likely spinning and the ideas flowing when it comes toimproving your business. While you’re making your New Year’s business resolution list for 2018, it may help to know what’s at the top of the minds of other business leaders. You’ll see that each New Year’s business resolution that follows is unique, yet universal.

Increase Visibility

“I plan to invest in marketing, advertising and speaking to reach the people who need us the most in 2018. PantyProp grew by 400 percent in 2017 through word-of-mouth referrals only, because of the uniqueness of our product. We plan to scale by finding customers instead of waiting for people who need our product to find us.” —Crystal Etienne, CEO and founder, PantyProp

Encourage Teamwork

“My top 2018 New Year’s business resolution is better employee connectivity. We’ll work on structure for both formal and informal office connectivity. We’ve targeted this area after noticing that while our business may grow and scale, we can do so much more together. Bringing the office together as a team removes the ‘I’ or the ‘me’ and puts the focus on the ‘us.’ Such a focus instills ownership across company lines.” —Peter Strauss, founder and owner, The Strauss Law Firm and Hamilton Captive Management

Leverage Technology

“We plan to leverage technology to accomplish our mission of helping as many veterans as possible transition from military service to lives of purpose and hope. The key to this is improving our client/customer experience with a personalized portal that will provide self-assessment, self-paced training, tracking and referrals as needed.” —Karl Monger, retired U.S. Army Ranger officer; founder and executive director, GallantFew “In a subscription business, it’s all about making it easy for customers to get the benefits of your software, fast. When we do this, customer success increases, sales increase and everyone wins. We’re going into 2018 with a mission to make it easy for our customers to get started with our software.” —Clate Mask, CEO, Infusionsoft “Our New Year’s business resolution as a company is to move forward with our vision of a digital, cultural and organizational transformation. We’re focused on innovation in our service offerings and expansion of our distribution channels, as well as transformation in customer engagement through use of new technologies. Achieving our digital transformation will strengthen our value proposition with service partners and boost productivity as the company continues to grow.” —Steve Upshaw, CEO, Cross Country Home Services “Winegard has been in the antenna business for more than six decades. Our longevity in the industry is due to our commitment to innovating and meeting customer needs. That’s why we’ve evolved into a connectivity company, instead of solely a TV antenna company. We’re excited for 2018 as we launch our most innovative and complete product line for connectivity using our unique antenna expertise.” —Grant Whipple, president, Winegard Company

Explore and Experiment

“My New Year’s business resolution is for us to take more risks, specifically in service of our mission to take the pulse of the internet. Taking risks allows The Tylt to creatively explore new ways to serve our community, which we’re confident will have a huge impact on our business. Collaboration and collective experimentation allows us to step back and reimagine what our product can represent in a space where we’ve already been successful.” —Kyle Lelli, general manager, The Tylt “At its heart, Absolut Art is an e-commerce business, but the product allows us to be super creative when we present in physical locations, which is a natural evolution. Now that we have the basics figured out, we can afford to be more playful and inventive with our offline experiences. We’re working on creating thoughtful and immersive offline experiences that will drive online interaction.” —Nahema Mehta, co-founder and CEO, Absolut Art

Focus on Customer Service

“In 2017, we focused on launching Smilo and creating a new brand that would deliver the most innovative and safe essentials for every step of childhood. In 2018, we plan to focus on the customer experience outside of the use of our products. One of our biggest areas of focus is shipping speed. We know where we need to be and will work diligently to make improvements for our customers.” —Josh Wiesman, CEO and co-founder, Smilo

Increase Reach and Profits

“My New Year’s business resolution is to increase my profit margin by 10 percent. I plan to do this by negotiating better deals with my manufacturers that allow me to scale faster. In the past, I haven’t been willing to get uncomfortable by negotiating better deals with my manufacturers. This year, I will overcome that roadblock.” —Cheryl Sutherland, founder, PleaseNotes “The art of visibility and being seen as a thought leader is the new critical life skill. My New Year’s business resolution is to train 1,000 people through my comprehensive online school that teaches business owners to master the media and get visibility for their companies.” —Ashley Crouch, owner and founder, Appleseed Communications

Hire and Train Top-Quality Employees

“Our top New Year’s business resolution is to hire high-caliber employees so we can serve the fast-growing demand for Loftey’s service. Our main focus for 2018 is to build out operationally to make sure we’re able to serve as many New York City renters as possible. Our clients are helping spread the word. We want to make sure that anyone who comes to us can take advantage of our services.” —Ori Goldman, CEO and co-founder, Loftey “In 2018, many CEOs will focus on hiring good people who share the vision and passion of their organizations. They understand that top-quality employees drive growth. The year will bring strong sales for most organizations, but it will be more challenging to find sufficient people with skills and talents, as the last of the baby boomers exit the workforce and reduce the available skill and talent pool.” —Shawn Casemore, speaker and author of The Unstoppable Organization and Operational Empowerment “Our New Year’s business resolution for 2018 is to be increasingly effective in equipping leaders to access the full potential of an untapped resource: their millennial salespeople and leaders. Coaching, mentoring and apprenticing Millennial workers is a win for everyone. Their new perspectives and insights give companies a competitive advantage.” —Danita Bye, sales and leadership development expert and author of Millennials Matter: Proven Strategies for Building Your Next Gen Leader

Celebrate Accomplishments of 2017

“I plan to congratulate myself and my team on our accomplishments. We’ve got some exciting things in the works for 2018, and I couldn’t have done it without the team. We’re all so focused on the next goal, sometimes we forget to acknowledge what we’ve achieved. We’ve built a great product for mothers that has made a really positive impact.” —Michelle Kennedy, CEO and co-founder, Peanut Read more articles on leadership.

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