How to Conduct an Annual Small Business Review

December 27, 2023 Bridget Montes

As the year comes to a close, I love to take some time to reflect. Usually, I simply review my personal goals, but this year is a little different since I decided to take a little journey from nurse to copywriter and start my very own business.

So, this year, I’ll also get to conduct an annual review of my business, and I am SO freaking stoked about it!

An annual end-of-the-year self-assessment is an essential practice for every small business owner. It provides an opportunity to reflect on the previous year, evaluate your business’s performance, and identify areas of success and improvement.

By conducting a thorough self-assessment, you can gain insights into your strengths and weaknesses, assess your progress toward your business goals, and make informed decisions about the future direction of your business.

And, because I was genuinely so excited to do my own small business review this year, I’ve compiled a list of questions you can include in your annual small business review to self-assess and help you evaluate your business’s performance over the past year.

These questions cover various aspects of your business, including personal energy, customers, finance, marketing, systems, and management, and help you identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions for the future of your business.

How to prepare for your annual small business review:

Start by gathering all your essential data:

List of goals for the year
Revenue
Expenses
Profits
Reviews & testimonials
Monthly number of website visitors
Follower count on socials
Leads & conversion rates
Number of customers
Hours worked by you
Hours worked by your employees or freelancers

Next, take a look at the goals you set at the beginning of the year and the data you gathered, and use the following list of questions to guide your annual small business review:

Your Energy

Why did you become a business owner? Did you fulfill that purpose this year?
Did you invest in your own personal and professional development this year?
How well did you adapt to changes in your industry or market this year? How did you handle any unexpected crises or challenges that arose?
What brought you joy? What felt draining?
Did you maintain a healthy balance in all areas of your life?

Your Vision

Did you take any significant risks this year? If so, how did they turn out?
What were your biggest successes this year?
What lessons did you learn this year that you can apply to improve your business in the future?
Do you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish in your business next year? What does that look like for you?
What steps will you take to improve your business and achieve your goals in the coming year?

Your Customers

Did you maintain good relationships with your customers and clients?
Did you receive any feedback from customers or clients that you can use to improve your business?
Did your visitors or leads adequately convert to customers?

Your Marketing

In what ways did you market your business this year?
Did your marketing efforts effectively reach your target audience?
Did your customers clearly understand the purpose of your product or services?
Do you feel like any one area of your marketing was more or less successful than others?

Your Revenue

Did you achieve the financial goals you set for your business?
Did you explore any new revenue streams or opportunities to grow your business?
How much did your income fluctuate from month to month? Do you understand how you can stabilize your monthly income?

Your Expenses

Did you manage to stay within your budget?
Did you effectively manage cash flow and finances this year?
Did you ever require consulting with your financial advisor before making a business decision?

Your Systems

Did you make any significant changes to your business model or strategy? If so, how did they affect your business?
Did you effectively manage your time and resources?
Map out your current process and systems to create your product or service. Are you satisfied with the process and systems you’ve designed to produce your product or services?
What about your current process and systems feel successful to you? Are there areas you can improve?
How well did you manage your employees and/or team members?

Looking forward

It’s so easy just to put your head down and grind. When you’re in the thick of things, taking time to assess how things are going can feel like a waste. But, conducting an annual review of your small business is essential for its success and growth.

By building in time throughout your year to assess your current work against your goals and evaluate your financial performance, marketing strategy, employees’ performance, customer feedback, and goal achievement, you can identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes to your business plan in the moment.

This process helps you to improve your productivity, stay competitive in your industry, meet customer needs, improve customer satisfaction, increase your revenue, and keep you on track to accomplishing all your goals and scaling the business of your dreams.

And now, it’s time to look forward, consider what you want to accomplish in the next year and create strategies to achieve those goals.

So, don’t overlook the importance of an annual review of your small business — make it a priority and create a better plan for your business’s future.

SDN