Graham McGregor: Three important things at year's end

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Opinion

Marketing consultant Graham McGregor on three important things to do at the end of any year:

There are only a few more days to go until a brand new year in 2012.

I always love the end of a year as I find it's a great time to do three important things.

Here they are...

1: Celebrate all the successes that you have had during the last 12 months.

A success is anything that you did or that happened to you that made you 'feel good.'

So successes can be a lot of different things, both big and small.

In my case some of my successes in 2011 include...

-Creating my 'Unfair Business Advantage Report' and having it read by business owners from 19 countries.

-Writing a weekly marketing column for the NZ Herald online. You can read all my Herald columns at this link.

-Meeting dozens of interesting new people who have added great value to my life.

-Reading a large number of helpful business books.

-Having the opportunity to work with some delightful new marketing clients.

And so on.

Something I find very helpful is to actually write down many of the successes that you have enjoyed over the last 12 months. And then review them regularly.

2: Become aware of the valuable lessons you have had in the last 12 months.

In any year you will have experiences that are 'less than ideal'. However there is always a valuable learning lesson that you can take away from any experience like this.

Here's a simple example:

During the last 12 months I created several dozen new marketing programmes and services. A couple were great successes and some got good results.

There were also a couple of new marketing projects I tried that failed miserably.

The learning lesson I take from this is that it is helpful to try a lot of new things in your business. But only spend a small amount of money and time trying each one.

(In other words test a lot of new ideas on a small scale first before you roll them out in a big way.) That way if something doesn't work out you have not wasted a lot of money and time.

3: Count your blessings.

A good example is that it's how we take for granted today technology that was unheard of a few years ago. For a wonderful little video on these changes, check out the Nativity Message presented using Facebook, Google, Twitter,Gmail, Amazon etc.

This short video is very cute and a great reminder of how far we have come in the last few years.

Another way to count your blessings is to write down a gratitude list.

In other words; all the things in your life that you are grateful for.

This might include your good health, your comfortable home, your interesting job, your great friends and anything else you can think of.

Then take a few minutes and add a few items to your gratitude list every day.

Finally, I want to thank you for allowing me to share some of my marketing and sales ideas with you in 2011. I trust you found them helpful.

This is my last marketing column for 2011 and I'll be back with new marketing ideas and strategies in January 2012.

Have a wonderful holiday break in the meantime.

"Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect."
Oren Arnold

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage Report.' www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com (This is free and has now been read by business owners from 11 countries.) You can email Graham on graham@twomac.co.nz