A new year is upon us and for many that means New Year’s Resolutions, goal-setting, and creating a word or intention for the year! I love the start of a new year, a fresh start, a clean slate. While some years I feel ready to go come January 1st, other years I feel a little sluggish getting back in the swing of things! 

Here are Ten Things I do to start each new year to close out the year that has been and setup for success for the year ahead. 

My New Years Checklist

1. Update Net Worth Statement

You’ve probably heard of a Net Worth Statement before, maybe you have one, maybe you don’t. Now is a great time to start or update yours! I believe a Net Worth Statement is the best and most accurate picture of personal wealth and I set a goal to make our net worth “more positive” each year! I talk a teensy bit more about Net Worth Statements in this post (starting at min. 4:47). It’s easy to find examples online if you don’t already have one. t’s easy to find examples online or if you want my exact spreadsheet + video tutorial on how to start your own net worth statement, ​grab my Net Worth Template from the shop!

2. Update Personal Budget

Budgeting, meh. I like to call budgets “spending plans” instead. always joke that budgets are like a six-letter curse word, they can carry some negative connotations can’t they? That’s why I like to call budgets “spending plans” instead. I love the mindset shift that we can tell our money where to go— intentional yes’s instead of a bunch of no’s. I love the mindset shift that we can design where our money goes. It makes budgeting so much more fun. We budget for things we value: travel, a house cleaner, Fridays off. If this is your first time creating a personal budget check out my personal finance course, Blueprint at Home, for more help!

3. Determine Personal Salary for the Year.

Kyle and I both work in the business, so we are lucky to set our own salary. If you’ve taken my personal finance course, Blueprint at Home, you’ll know that we set our personal salary at the minimum we need to pay our bills and live the lifestyle we can afford/accustomed to. We set bonuses for extras like house projects, dream trips, etc. Before moving into a new year, I want to make sure I am clear on our personal budget and how much we need to pay ourselves each month from the business. Do step 2 & 3 before moving on to step 4 & 5 (knowing our personal financial need helps set business goals for the year!)

4. Create a Business Money Plan 

for the year aka a business budget and sales goal. Going into the year knowing exactly how much we need to sell and how much we can spend on staff or overhead expenses gives me so much peace of mind! This helps me set goals for product launches, review our offers to see which are most profitable, and opportunities for improvements. I teach my process for creating a business money plan in my signature program, The Blueprint Model. 

5. Set A Sales Goal!!

I call this your “enough” number. This is the number that pays the bills in the business plus pays us our personal salary needs. Not sure how to calculate this number? I have a whole post on calculating your sales goal, here.

6. Create A Reading List for the Year.

I like to choose 12 books for the year, I always set a 1 book a month goal. For me, I have found this is a doable number throughout the year. I like to read books but have recently started listening to audio books as well! These days with a toddler at home, I pop in my earbuds at the gym or while I commute and feel like I’m able to digest more books by listening. 

Need some book recommendations? I put together a list of My Top Ten All-Time Favorite Books—you won’t regret having these books on your reading list this year!

7. Set my word of the year.

A word or phrase. I like to think of this as my overarching intention for the year. 

8. Write out my goals for the next 12 months.

I have a whole goal setting process I’m obsessed with called My Blueprint Year. If setting goals has let you down in the past, I’ve totally been there. Now instead of creating goals, I decide the outcomes I want to achieve for the year and create plans to break those big goals into actionable smaller steps. Its’ a whole thing, check out My Blueprint Year, here!

9. Setup Calendar.

I go ahead and mark off personal days, vacations, travel, big life events first!! Then I plan our big promotional periods, course launches, any new product releases around those dates.

10. “Close the books” on the past year.

Ok you know I had to do a little accountant speak over here. Closing out the books is like the old school days of balancing your checkbook. To close out the year and make sure your bookkeeping is Tee’d up for tax time, you want to make sure the numbers in your accounting software (or manual spreadsheets) match what is on your bank statements. This is something I do each month to stay on track and make end of year easier, but hey I’ve definitely had years where I’m going back and doing this for all 12 months. No judgment. If you outsource your bookkeeping, this is something your bookkeeper should be doing for you!

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I truly believe any day is a good day to start living with intention. And while this New Years Checklist is best done at the start of a new calendar or academic year… anytime is a great time to set goals and intentions. That’s why I love my goal-setting program My Blueprint Year. It was designed to help you live on purpose whenever you’re starting! Whether it’s July 23rd or January 1st, if you’re ready to make progress on things that matter most, live with intention and purpose and stay awake to your life— check out My Blueprint Year! 

Tell Me in the Comments:

What is one thing you do to kickstart a new year?

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