Latest / The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business / EP145 - The January Reset: What to Stop, Start and Keep in Your Business

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EP145 - The January Reset: What to Stop, Start and Keep in Your Business · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

• 0:01
  Hi there business owner, and welcome to the Three BS Podcast,
• 0:04
  the place where we go beyond the numbers and dive into the
• 0:07
  strategies to help you build a Better Business one step at a
• 0:10
  time. I'm your host, Stephanie, a
• 0:12
  multi awarding entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in
• 0:15
  the bookkeeping and currency world.
• 0:17
  If you're a business owner looking to streamline, grow and
• 0:19
  get back the time that you deserve, you're in the right
• 0:21
  place tackling real world problems, answering tough
• 0:24
  questions, and digging deep into business building secrets in
• 0:27
  just 15 minutes each week. So Are you ready to build a
• 0:31
  Better Business with confidence and clarity?
• 0:33
  Then let's go. Hello and welcome back to
• 0:37
  another episode of The Three BS Podcast, your go to place for 15
• 0:41
  minutes of CPD certified motivation, inspiration and
• 0:45
  education to help you build a Better Business.
• 0:49
  If we haven't met before. Hi, I'm Stephanie Marshall,
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  founder of ABCSUK, bookkeeper, accountant, business development
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  strategist and someone who has seen more genero panics than I
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  care to count. Today's episode is called the
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  January reset. What to stop, what to start and
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  what to keep in your business? Because January does not need to
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  be a dramatic reinvention. We talked last week with Natalie
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  Potts all about setting your goals for the year ahead.
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  And if January is your busiest month, as most bookkeeps and
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  accountants are, then you can set your goals in February.
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  Your year can start from February.
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  Your year can start from August or September.
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  It's your business and you get to build things your way.
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  If January is your busy season, you do not need to burn
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  everything to the ground and start again just because the
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  calendars flipped over. And you definitely don't need a
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  color-coded 47 tab spreadsheet to prove that you're taking this
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  year seriously. Although I do quite like a
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  spreadsheet, 47 tabs might be a little bit over the top.
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  What you do need, however, is clarity.
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  So instead of piling more onto your plate, this So it's all
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  about helping you decide what no longer belongs in your business,
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  what actually deserves your attention, and what is already
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  working that you should stop messing with.
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  Let's get into it. So let's start with the hardest
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  one. What to stop?
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  First up, can we all agree to stop treating January like a
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  clean slate? Your business did not magically
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  reset on the 1st of January. Your clients didn't forget who
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  you are, your cash flow didn't start again at zero, and your
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  problems didn't politely disappear just because the
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  calendar flipped over. When business owners treat
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  January as a fresh start, they often seem to ignore valuable
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  data from the year just gone. That's where the lessons are.
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  So stop ignoring last year's evidence just because it doesn't
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  fit the New Year, New Me narrative that we all subscribe
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  to on social media and use the evidence and that data from last
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  year, whether it was a full year or a part of a year, and use
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  that to make informed decisions moving forward.
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  If you've listened to any episodes on this podcast before,
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  you'll know that I love data because data gives you informed
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  decisions. And if you're a business owner,
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  solopreneur, don't have a team around you to give you unbiased
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  opinions, your thoughts and your decisions are often led by
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  emotion. Taking away that motion using
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  actual hard evidence of data means that you're much more
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  likely to build a Better Business.
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  Next stop saying yes by default. January is when people come back
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  with energy, ideas and expectations.
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  Clients want quick wins, opportunities pop up and
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  suddenly your diary fills up before you've even had a chance
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  to think. If you say yes to everything
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  now, February U is going to be so exhausted.
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  And I know many people talk about say yes to every
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  opportunity because you never know where it's going to lead.
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  And I wholeheartedly believe that.
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  But as a business owner, if you're an introvert like me,
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  saying yes to everything will actually just burn you out.
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  Use this time, this new year, as a time to be intentional with
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  your diary. If it doesn't align with your
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  goals for 2026 and beyond, if it doesn't meet your capacity, if
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  you're going to have to struggle with childcare or any of those
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  things to make these opportunities work or it goes
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  against your values, it's got to be a no or at least a not right
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  now. One of the biggest lessons I
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  learnt in business is that no is a full sentence.
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  You don't need to go no, but or no because and explain yourself
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  50,000 times. No is an answer.
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  No is a complete sentence or not.
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  Right now is also an answer if it's something you want to
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  circle back to. And finally, stop confusing busy
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  with productive. I am so guilty of this one.
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  A full diary does not automatically mean a profitable
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  business, nor does it mean a healthy 1 January for
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  bookkeepers and accountants because it's tax return season
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  is some of our busiest times of year.
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  I had enquiries on the 6th of January this year.
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  I have had new clients come on board on the 29th of January and
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  previous tax years with a tax return due on the 31st.
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  It doesn't necessarily mean profitable.
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  Burning the candle at both ends in January is what many
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  accountants will do. We're all getting by with
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  caffeine and pure willpower. If you're a business owner
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  that's not in that industry, you'll have your busy periods
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  too. And just because your diary's
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  packed full doesn't necessarily mean you're actually progressing
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  in your business or building it the way you want to.
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  If you were busy last year but still felt stuck, overwhelmed,
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  or underpaid over serving, doing more of the same is not going to
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  be the answer, is it Einstein? That said, the definition of
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  insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
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  expecting to get different results.
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  If you were busy last year, if your diary was packed, but you
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  didn't seem to make the impact you wanted to make, you didn't
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  seem to get the things done that you wanted to get done.
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  Now is the time to look at those things and deciding what you can
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  leave behind as we go into 2026. So now we have swept the decks,
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  got rid of all the things that we need to say goodbye to,
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  emptied that closet. Now it's time to talk about what
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  to keep. This is where business owners
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  quite often trip up. So they're so keen to change
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  things, but they accidentally throw away what's already
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  working. When I'm saying saying no to
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  things, things that supported you last year, the systems that
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  work, the connections that you made, the events you attended,
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  the things that worked last year needs to be brought into this
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  year. Don't say goodbye to them.
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  If something saved you time, reduced your stress, or made
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  decision making easier for you, it stays, even if it's not a
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  perfect fit yet. Quite often with software,
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  unless you are building it yourself from the ground up,
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  it's never going to be perfect for you and your business.
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  So things are 9095% there and have the benefits of saving you
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  time, stress or making decision making easier.
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  Even though they're not perfect, it is important to keep those
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  and not throw them away and start again looking for a brand
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  new solution that's at nought percent rather than 90% you
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  already have. Also keep the clients who
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  respected your boundaries. They pay you on time and value
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  what you do. They are like gold dust.
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  I like to cause them unicorns. They are the reason that you
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  don't need to chase every shiny new lead.
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  And as we're building better businesses, I think we all are
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  learning that we don't say yes to every client and every person
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  that wants to pay you money is not always a good fit for you.
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  Quite often what I found in my time in business is those that
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  haggle you on price, those that aren't responsive to you as
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  you're going through the onboard and the sales and marketing
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  process, they're going to be your Pitta clients.
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  Pitta being pain in the ass. Think I'm not going to put an
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  explicit label on this episode? Oh dear, keep the habits that
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  protected your energy. If there's things that you
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  started in 2025, even if you let them go to the wayside, whether
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  that was going to the gym or getting out a break time, taking
• 7:22
  more time away from the screen, eating more healthily, stopping
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  the drinking, drinking more water, whatever it may have been
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  personally, professionally, any of those habits that helped
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  protect your energy. Booking those days out of your
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  diary after a big event. If you're or people would doubt
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  in your introvert like me, if they work, keep them.
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  Double down on them for 2020 26. That could also be batch in your
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  work, blocking out your diary, logging off at a reasonable time
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  if you got really good at saying no.
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  The the laptop closes at 5:00 PM, doors are closed, we start
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  again tomorrow at 9:00. Then take that with you.
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  If it's working, take it with you into 2026.
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  If something helps you feel human whilst running a business,
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  it definitely belongs in 2026 with you.
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  And keep reviewing your numbers. I wouldn't be doing my job as a
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  bookkeeper and accountant correctly if I didn't tell you
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  to keep reviewing your numbers. You know that I love data.
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  Not because it's sexy or impressive, although I think
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  it's kind of sexy and impressive, but it helps you
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  make informed decisions. You don't need to obsess over
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  every metric either. Go back and look at our episodes
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  with Zoe Jew. She was great at giving us a new
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  perspective on what metrics you actually need to look at in your
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  business and what numbers and data you should track to help
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  you build a Better Business and to know what's working and
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  what's not. While you don't need to obsess
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  over every metric, you do need visibility.
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  You need to know your cash flow, your profit, your pricing and
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  capacity. Those matter far more than
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  variety starts like followers on Instagram.
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  In my opinion, this is the most important part.
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  What to start? Start with clarity and not
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  goals. Before you set targets, ask
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  yourself these questions. What do I actually want this
• 9:02
  year to look like? What do I want less of?
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  What do I want more of, and what needs to change for that to
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  happen? Go back to last weeks episode of
• 9:10
  Natalie Pops that was released on New Year's Day because that's
• 9:13
  about goal setting in a slightly different way than you'll
• 9:16
  probably see on social media. She doesn't need to start on the
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  1st of January, but you do need to look at a few things.
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  She was great at giving strategies and advice on how to
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  make 2026 goals suit you and your business, not what social
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  media tell us our goals should look like.
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  Goals without context just create pressure.
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  And I think we've all felt that need to create that fancy vision
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  board to get a new diary, to start journaling for four hours
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  a day, whatever we see other people doing on social media,
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  although we shouldn't compare ourselves, we're like, oh, I
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  should really do that. And that pressure when we're
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  already fit to burst in in January as accounts it's anyway
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  is not helpful. It's the clarity that creates
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  momentum to help build your business.
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  And if you're watching or listening to this podcast, I
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  hope that's the reason you're here, because you want to build
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  a Better Business just like I do.
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  And next, start planning shorter cycles.
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  This was a big thing for me that I learned from Natalie last week
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  is that you don't need a 12 month plan that locks you in for
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  the whole year. One, the world moves too fast
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  for that. The business landscape
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  definitely moves too fast for that.
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  And who knows what's going to come out in the next budget?
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  Two, your business is not going to look anything like it does
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  right now by the end of the year.
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  And three, the pressure you're going to put on yourself by
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  looking at that 12 month plan is not going to be helpful or
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  sustainable to keep up throughout the entire year as
• 10:35
  the highs and lows of the business owner roller coaster
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  come into fruition. So instead, focus on the next 90
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  days. Some call it quarter one, some
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  call it 90 days, whichever sounds more manageable to you.
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  But what needs to happen in quarter one to move you closer
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  to where you want to be is what should be down as your goals
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  right now. This makes planning feel more
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  achievable rather than overwhelming and reducing that
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  stress. And finally, start making
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  decisions based on evidence and not emotion.
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  Again, I know how hard it is as a business owner who cares so
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  deeply about their business that it's hard not to have that
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  emotion when making decisions. Generally, emotions are also
• 11:14
  extra loud. Excitement, fear, comparison and
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  pressure are all at play much louder at the beginning of the
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  year I think than as the year goes on.
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  So before you make a really big decision, pause and look at the
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  facts. What happened last year, what
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  does the numbers say, and what your capacity realistically is.
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  Emotion tells you something, but it's the data that helps you
• 11:36
  decide what to do about it. And if you need help looking at
• 11:40
  the facts and the figures and what those numbers mean for you
• 11:42
  and your business, come and see us at ABCS UK where we help
• 11:46
  business owners build better businesses.
• 11:48
  We are your partner in business and we can help you.
• 11:50
  From a 15 minute discovery call to one off power hours and 1 to
• 11:54
  one sessions to ongoing monthly support all year round, ABCS UK
• 11:58
  has a plan on the package to help you whatever stage of
• 12:01
  business you're at to get you to where you want to be.
• 12:03
  So if you're resetting this January, here's your simple
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  framework. Stop ignoring last year's
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  lessons. Stop saying yes by default or
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  because you feel like you should.
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  Stop equating busy with success, because it's definitely not the
• 12:16
  same thing. Keep what works, keep the right
• 12:20
  clients, and keep the habits that protect your energy and
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  help you be a Better Business owner without forgetting that
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  you're a human too. Start with clarity.
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  Start planning in shorter cycles.
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  Again. When you call it quarter one or
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  90 days, it's the same thing. And start making evidence based
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  decisions, not emotionally LED ones.
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  That's how you build momentum without burnout.
• 12:42
  Next week we're talking about January cash flow, anxiety,
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  what's normal, what's not, and when to take action.
• 12:48
  I feel like this is one of the biggest hurdles business owners
• 12:50
  face specifically at this time of the year.
• 12:53
  If you found this episode helpful, please do like rate and
• 12:55
  review wherever you are listening to it.
• 12:57
  It really does help this podcast into the years of more business
• 13:00
  owners who need it to help us all build better businesses.
• 13:03
  And if you are watching on YouTube, please do hit that
• 13:05
  subscribe button and that notification bell so that you
• 13:08
  know when the next episode of the Three B's podcast goes live.
• 13:11
  You can find links, resources and ways to work with me at the
• 13:14
  link in the show notes. And thank you for listening.
• 13:17
  I'll see you next week for the next episode.
• 13:19
  Bye. And that brings us to the end of
• 13:21
  another episode of The Three B's podcast.
• 13:24
  I hope you found it useful and that you're walking away with
• 13:26
  some motivation, inspiration, or education to help you build a
• 13:30
  Better Business. Don't forget to subscribe, leave
• 13:33
  a review, and of course, connect with us on social media for more
• 13:35
  insights, tips, and behind the scenes content.
• 13:38
  Your next step in building a Better Business is just a click
• 13:40
  away. I can't wait to connect with you
• 13:42
  and I'll see you on the next episode.
• 13:44
  Bye.