January is an important time for entrepreneurs to reset, reflect, and plan for the year ahead. Here are the activities the Toledo Library’s Small Business and Nonprofit Department recommends to start your year strong:

Tidy up your books.

Whether you’re looking to do revenue projections for the upcoming year, or get your documents in order for tax time, ensuring you close your past year’s books is essential. Spend time reviewing your profit & loss statements, cash flow, and balance sheets, and consider how well you were able to stick to the budget you set this time last year. Having a firm understanding of how things went financially last year will help you to better plan for this new one.

Pause to review your successes & opportunities from last year.

What were some big wins by your company last year? What do you think contributed to those achievements? Do you feel you missed any opportunities? If so, why? Often, small business owners are required to move so quickly as they scale that they don’t make time to look back at the progress. These reviews can be so meaningful for your business – they provide a sense of accomplishment, force you to evaluate the reasons for any shortfalls (and not repeat them!) and are invaluable when it comes to future goal setting. If you have a team, consider sharing the review with them and perhaps even have them contribute their own feedback.

Set goals for this new year.

Start-up entrepreneurs may find quarterly goal setting most effective, where businesses in the growth stage with more established processes may choose to create monthly goals. However often you’ll be measuring your success in 2025, be sure those goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. If you have a big-picture annual goal, be sure your smaller goals support that.

Plot out your calendar.

Whether you’re a paper & pen one-person business or prefer to manage a full shared team calendar online, get any big dates recorded now. New product launches, professional development conferences, sales events, vacations, holidays and more can help you understand which weeks may be abnormally busy, and where there is room for those lower priority tasks in between them.

Get social.

No, we don’t mean adding any more hours to the time you spend on social media. We mean maintaining and building your network in an organic, offline way! Seek out a mentor, and see if they can find the time to have a coffee date once a quarter. Who are your top leads this year, and when are you inviting them to dinner or an open house event? Make a list of your most valuable customers and plan a way to connect with them and show gratitude.

Don’t forget your health.

Being an entrepreneur can feel like a 24-7 endeavor, especially in the early years. Chances are that in Q4 of last year, you may have had to let some activities focused on your well-being slip, between the busyness of the business and the toll the holiday season can take on your personal life. Think about when you feel your best. Is it exercising? Journaling? On the playground with your kids? Getting pampered? Dancing? Being outdoors? Your mind is your most important asset as an entrepreneur, and the mind-body connection is no joke! When you move your body, your mental clarity improves. When your mental clarity improves, your business gains momentum.

Seek advice intentionally.

Whether it’s finding a new favorite business book or seeking out a subject matter expert, consider what you’ve been putting off learning that would benefit your business and how you might master it – or at least get yourself introduced to the topic – in 2025. Here’s a list of titles we recommend to entrepreneurs looking to fine-tune their business plans:

You can also use LinkedIn Learning through the Library and access thousands of training videos and courses for free, or attend an in-person small business-focused Library program such as bookkeeping, content planning, action planning, media relations and more. Lastly, connect with our Small Business and Nonprofit department for a one-on-one assistance session at business@toledolibrary.org or via this form.