3 Things You Can Do Now to Increase Your Income in the New Year

With the holidays upon us, for many, it is a time to reflect, spend time with loved ones and friends, and celebrate a New Year.  But, for the highly successful, it is also a time to set yourself for a fast start and success in the New Year.

While everyone else is spending time focused elsewhere, if you spend just a small fraction of your time on a few key things, you can drive more business and set up a great start to your year.

Here's a few ideas for you.

1.)  There's Gold in Your Past Customers

The end of the year is a great time to contact customers who have done business with your before and re-engage them going into the next year.  Even if they left your product or service - remember, they bought it once before.  Connect with them and give them an incentive to come back.  It could in the form of a discount or added services, or even a free month.  Do what makes sense for your business.  If you get just a few clients to purchase that will make a difference for you in the following year.

2.)  Review the Tax Laws

Tax laws are always changing and many entrepreneurs miss out on tax benefits simply because they don't know they exist.  Things like R&D credits, entity structure, and end of year planning with pre-tax retirement vehicles can make a big difference in how much money you keep.  For example,  if your business is doing over $200k in profit per year and you have not looked at the benefits of an S-Corporation, you may want to, especially in the US, as the new tax laws allows for some substantial credits to your business.  As always, you should review these things with a competent tax professional, but don't miss out on what the laws allow you to do.

3.)  Setup New Joint Ventures (JVs)

As mentioned above, for many businesses, they use this time of year as downtime and things are slower.  It is the perfect time for you to reach out to potential partners and discuss how your businesses could work together in the new year.  One great partnership can grow a business substantially, so if you have been thinking about a potential partnership with someone or another business, there is no better time that now to get it setup and have it ready to hit the ground running in the new year.

As entrepreneur or even solopreneur, you can use these 3 ideas to really make a difference for yourself.  So, while everyone else is focused on their next ugly sweater party, take a few extra minutes to work a few of these and get ahead in the new year!