Ep 196 – REWIND: End of Year Checklist

“Your New Year will only be as strategic as your year end planning and preparation process.” – Darnyelle Jervey Harmon

Episode Summary

This episode is powered by Move to Millions Live

We are solidly in the 4th quarter of the year and there is so much to do to maximize this quarter and end the year as your best year yet. As a new year approaches, it is also important for every CEO on the Move to Millions to take some time to prepare their business for the new year while also strategically finalizing their business’ current year.  This checklist changed the game for us and our clients, I know it can change the game for you as well. You can even download the checklist as my gift to you! Grab your pen and Move to Millions Podcast Notebook and listen in now to discover:

  • Exactly what you need to focus on NOW to end your year strategically
  • #1 productivity hack to streamline your business
  • How to conduct a SWOT Analysis
  • And so much more

Mentioned in the Episode: The End of Year Checklist

Important Links:

Powerful Quotes from the Episode

  • “Begin with the end in mind and allow that to guide you as you work through the end-of-year checklist.”
  • “Having the right systems and processes in place will reduce your effort, maximize your income, and increase your overall impact.”
  • “Being proactive is a skill that will serve you in perpetuity and reap benefits for your company.”
  • “The fourth quarter is brimming with opportunity; don’t hang up your business too early.”
  •  “Thinking about how you will end the year and vision-casting for the future will change the game for your business.”

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Having access to the end of year checklist actually puts you in the running to hit the next milestone a year in advance, right? Because you’ve got to be proactive. It’s one of my favorite Stephen Coveyisms to begin with the end in mind, I want you to end the year with the end of next year in mind and allow that to guide you as you work through the end of year checklist. This checklist has gone on to help so many of our clients be able to finalize their current year while preparing for their best year yet.

You’re listening to the Move to Millions podcast with Dr. Darnyelle Jervey Harmon, the place to be for high level conversations about all things Millions. Your mission, mindset, methodologies, mandates, movement, messaging, marketing, metrics, and most definitely your money. I am your host. Spiritual business growth coach. Dr. Darnyelle J. Harmon. Join me each week for inspiring stories, powerful interviews, and business growth strategy to help you experience abundance in your life because of your business. If you’re ready to move to your next level, everything. Let’s get this party started.

Hey, y’all. Welcome to another episode of the Move to Millions podcast. I am so excited that you are with me before we jump into today’s episode. In case you’re new around here, I just want to first and foremost welcome you to the Move to Millions movement. This podcast, as you’ll come to learn, as you continue to listen, is not really about business. It’s about the spiritual principles and mindsets that keep us from success. And every once in a while, I will throw in an episode or a guest and we will actually have a good old business talk.

I have come to believe that 95% Of your success is tied to the six inches in between your ears. And if you don’t believe you deserve it, you will never make the Move to Millions. We are on a mission here to normalize wealth, legacy and abundance. And yes, in case you’re wondering, it is not just about the money. It is also about the impact and the legacy we created the Move to Millions method, our proven framework to help six figure entrepreneurs become multiple seven figure CEOs. And we’d love to give you a gift to help you to get started on your way. Now that you are here and you can do so by going to movetomillionsmethod.com in today’s episode, I am going to talk to you about something that I started doing probably about five years ago in my business, and it has made a huge difference. You are in the fourth quarter of the year at the time of this recording, and what you do now is going to make a difference substantially.

I’m talking about ending this year, ending any year, super strong. And so I actually just recently rolled out to the world my end of year checklist. Now, I’ve been using this checklist. We’ve been providing it to our clients so that they know what they need to focus on in the final quarter of the year. But as you heard me share or you will hear me share, if this is your first time here, when you go back and listen to the episode on the six figure holiday sales plan, the fourth quarter is the most profitable quarter in a year. Well, I’m going to add to that now and say that the fourth quarter is the quarter when you also can do the most impact to your systems and operations to move your business forward. And that is what the end of year checklist is all about. So as a CEO of a company that is preparing, making, or nearing the million dollar mark, it is essential that you are on top of every key area and function within your company.

And this is important for you as the CEO, even if you have support team like an operations manager or a COO or director of operations, you still need to know that everything that needs to be looked at inside of your business has been looked at. It has been evaluated, and you’ve decided that it’s something that you want to continue to offer into the new year. Now, as a result of that, I recommend that as the end of each year approaches, my recommendation is that you leverage a checklist. A checklist that I want to share with you, I want to give to you as a gift. I’ll tell you how you can get it in the show notes and in a little bit inside of this episode. It’s my free gift to you just to make sure that you really do prepare your business for the new year. Because if you aren’t careful, this year will go and the new year will come and nothing will have changed. And if nothing changes, nothing changes.

We don’t want that to be your story, right? My recommendation as you go and you download this checklist is that you start working on it as soon as possible. And I want you to do that so that you have enough time to get everything on the checklist done. Now, I don’t want you to misinterpret the significance of the checklist. When you look at it, it’s gorgeous. But the things that are listed are going to seem like, oh, that’s simple, except they’re not going to be simple. And I’m not going to steal the thunder of the checklist. I want you to actually go and download it. So I’m not going to tell you what’s in the checklist, but what I am going to tell you is that having the right systems and processes in place in your business will reduce your effort, it will maximize your income, and it will increase your overall impact.

And for me, that is really what it’s all about, right? I believe that this was a game changer for us. When I think back to our company’s, trajectory of when we really started to streamline operations and really work smarter and not harder. When we got off the Hustle and Grind train, this helped us significantly because this became a key part of our business operations as a team. At this time, we go through the process of evaluating everything that’s in there. Now, I am going to throw you this. The most important thing that you need to do and the reason why this end of year checklist is so important is because it is going to teach you how to be proactive in your business. And learning the skill of proactivity will serve you into perpetuity. For as long as you have a company, you will see and reap the benefits when you are proactive.

It’s a big part of the reason. With our Mastermind, we meet with our clients every 90 days and we are working on the next quarter, not the quarter we are in. I always want them to be thinking ahead. Think about retail, right? You go into a store in September and they are already starting to decorate for Christmas. They’re three months ahead all the time. You need to be at least three months ahead inside of your own business. I’m also a big believer that your business needs to run on a three year strategic plan. You should know what you’re going to be doing or what your goals and objectives are going to be three years from now.

You should know that now, even though you’re working in the current quarter, I’m also really big into backing into your results, right? So if you know where you want to be in ten years, where do you have to be in seven? And in order to be there in seven, where do you have to be in five? And in order to be there in five, where do you need to be in three? And in order to be there in three, where do you need to be in the next year inside of your business? Now, having an end of year checklist and going through this process at the end of every year. Now, ideally, you could honestly take this checklist and it could become your end of the quarter checklist. Some things you might make an NA, but you could evaluate all of these things every single quarter inside of your business and it will make a huge difference. One of the biggest things that I think is important for you to do at the end of the year, but also every single quarter is to conduct a SWOT analysis. When we met with our clients at our October retreat, that is one of the things that we did, your SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, Weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Your strengths and your weaknesses are internal to you. That means you control them.

Your opportunities and your threats are external to you. That means an outside force controls them and you have to be clear and cognizant. What are the things you do better than anyone else? Where are the biggest weaknesses? I’ve got my fingers in the air quotes. What are the things that if you worked on them, you could strengthen them? What are the opportunities, what could you be doing that would make you a leader in your industry and what could threaten to derail the success that your company has? As an example, we have a client that works in college readiness and preparation. She does college consulting, and she helps families get their children into a college that feels like home. Well, a threat to her, just as an example of what a threat looks like, would be if the country decided to create 100% paid college education. That would be a threat to her entire business. Now, while that’s not likely to happen, it’s something that she needs to be cognizant of.

Now, when you do a SWOT analysis as a part of your end of year checklist or even your end of quarter checklist, you should also look at doing a SWOT analysis anytime you launch a new product or service. Once that launch is over, you should conduct a SWOT to validate what went well, what didn’t go so well, what could you do better next time, and things you want to be cognizant of as you move into the future. Right. Things to take into consideration this process as a part of the end of the year for us has been a game changer. It allows us to finalize the current year that we’re in while also ringing the year for all of the additional opportunities. Right. The fourth quarter is brimming with opportunity, and I implore you not to hang up your business too early. One of the things we have learned to do over the last four to five years is always do something in between Christmas and New Year’s.

It’s a very profitable week because a lot of people are making decisions that will influence their tax liability. They thought they had that covered. They got a notification from their accountant or tax preparer, and they need one more transaction. And when you are off trimming trees and drinking eggnog and not being paying attention to what’s happening in your business, you could miss distinct opportunities. Want you to go back and listen to the episode on the six figure holiday sales plan because that is going to make a difference for you. When we come back from the break, I’m going to share a few other things that I really want you to start doing because it’s going to make a difference as you prepare for the end of the year. Want to know what it’s like to work with me and the Incredible Factor University Coaching team? You can get started today with the move to Millions 90 Day Business Growth Planner. 90 days at a time, you’ll be setting your business on a trajectory that will make the Move to Millions happen much faster for you. It’s got everything that you need to track every strategy, every sale, all of. Your KPIs, as well as your self care and life transformational needs. We made sure we left nothing out of this amazing planner. And by accessing the planner, you’ll get A behind the scenes view of what it’s like to work with me and my team. Go grab yours today at Movetomillionsplanner combat. You’re listening to the Move to Millions podcast. I’ve been talking to you all about your end of year checklist with a little SWOT analysis breakdown kind of thrown in the mix. Listen to me, I said it before the break. I just want to reiterate it again. Starting this process in our company has made such a huge difference. So for those of you who have millions on your mind, I want you to make sure that you go and grab the end of your checklist, download it, print it out and start going through it.

Get through as much of it as you can. Some of the things in there may be an NA for you and your business now, but it’ll give you a glimpse into things that you might want to think about in the future. Going through this process for us has been really important because it’s creating operational flow and that’s one of the biggest things that I think comes out of this. And it also will bring your team together because you can take the checklist and delegate it amongst your team, it doesn’t necessarily have to be something that only you are doing. You and your team could actually do it. I created another training that is my gift to you. When you download the checklist, that goes in a little bit deeper into many of the components and the areas inside of the end of the year checklist. We broke it down based on the seven areas of your business so that you know what you need to be focusing on in order to tighten every single area and prepare it to finalize the year.

By setting an end to the year and going through this process and then also creating a strategic start of the new year, everything has the potential to change now for us as a company because we’re always working proactively. We’re a quarter ahead. We’re already clear and cognizant about what it is that we’re going to be launching at the top of the year in January. My team is starting to work on the assets for that. Now, guess what? That’s a big part of the end of year checklist so that you know exactly where you are, so that it can make a difference in helping you to get to where it is that you truly desire to be in order to be able to move the company forward. Now, as you go through the process of completing this checklist, I really do encourage you to stop and think about it and think about each area if you haven’t already. I’m going to share this one with you too, because we are into the fourth quarter by the time you hear this. If you have not already met with your CPA and tax strategists to finalize your year and what you need to do, right? If there is money that needs to be spent or appropriated so that you can reduce your tax liability, I want you to know about that sooner rather than later, right? So as you look at the checklist, there are going to be some things that you’re going to be doing now to finalize the fourth quarter and then there are going to be some things you’re going to be doing now to focus on the new year.

Like you already need to have an idea of your marketing and content calendar for 2023 or the new year, right? You already need to be thinking about that. You already need to be thinking about when you’re planning vacations that already needs to be blocked out as you look into the new year. If you are one of those businesses who creates a theme or a focus for the year, you want to start thinking about that now even as you’re rounding out the current year that you’re in by going through the process to really think strategically high level about your company and what you need to finalize, right. If there are clients that are enrolled in your programs that you don’t intend to renew, that needs to be something that you’re thinking about right now and it’s going to make a difference to you if you are successful and really navigating a path to think about that right now. One of the things that I realized in actually making this a priority for us and looking at the end of year checklist as early in the fourth quarter as possible is it allows that systemization and streamlining of the business that allows you to be able to hit the milestone that you have for yourself. So when you think about the Move to Millions continuum, whether you are at Momentum, which is $100,000 a year, or Mastery, which is $100,000 a quarter, or Millions, which is $100,000 a month, or Majesty, which is $100,000 a week, or Monumental, which is $100,000 a day. Having access to the end of year checklist actually puts you in the running to hit the next milestone a year in advance. Right.

Because you’ve got to be proactive it’s. One of my favorite Stephen Covey isms to begin with the end in mind. I want you to end the year with the end of next year in mind and allow that to guide you as you work through the end of year checklist. This checklist has gone on to help so many of our clients be able to finalize their current year while preparing for their best year yet. So we’re going to share with you inside of that checklist the 25 key areas of your business that you need to optimize exactly what it is that you’ll need to review and tighten in order to finish the year strong and to strategically position your business for the new year. I share my number one confidence hack with you in the training so that you’ll start to see yourself as a million dollar CEO worthy of making money and being inside of a business that is streamlined and systematized through the use of a tool like an end of year checklist. We talk about which systems are critical so that you are not the bottleneck inside of your business. And I share the number one thing that will stop you from having a seven figure company as well as a few case studies and success stories of some of our clients who have leveraged and scaled their business because of the end of year checklist.

Access to this checklist and training is really designed to keep you moving your business forward and to do it in a way that serves and supports you so that you can leave hustle and grind behind. Listen, we’ve all done enough hustling and grinding. We’ve got to stop. We just have to. And depending upon where you are right now, there are specific shifts that you’ll need to make that’ll prevent you from hustling and grinding but also tighten your system’s infrastructure. And so by getting access to this end of your checklist, which again, we’re going to put all of the details for you in the Show Notes, you’ll be able to determine what you should be focusing on this quarter and how to start your new year. This powerful training that comes along with it, it’s going to blow your mind and it’s going to also set you up to be able to have the best year yet inside of your business. This was not originally a planned episode, so I’m just kind of throwing this in because I want to make sure because we’re in so many countries around the world and so many people are showing up every single week to hear what I have to share.

Thank you so much for that. I wanted to make sure that you guys knew that we put this end of year checklist out. I remember last year when I shared it with my clients in the Mastermind. I was like, oh, next year I want to make sure I tell people early enough for them to actually be able to leverage the power of this tool to move their businesses forward. And you’re welcome. It’s my gift to you. All you need to do is go into the Show Notes, you’ll see the link right there and you’ll be able to access the end of year checklist. Here’s what I know.

Thinking now about how you’re going to end this year and being able to vision cast about how your year will end with grace and ease instead of hustle and grind with systemization and streamlining instead of struggle with significance, instead of not feeling certain about what your next year looks like, it will change the game for you. And it makes me so excited because I know that it is an important part of getting your business on the move to Millions. I’ll see you all next time. Take care.

Thank you for joining me for the move to millions podcast. If after listening to this episode you’re ready to stop playing and praying small, you should go grab my plan for Millions bundle. One thing I know for sure is that before you can make the move, you’ve got to have the plan. If you enjoyed our time together, do yourself a favor head on over to iTunes subscribe rate and leave us a review. Until next time. Remember, millions are your birthright and to access them, all you have to do is move. Take care.