When you're preparing to close out the year, and looking to the next, you want to start thinking about your goals so you can start taking actionable steps in the new year. 

Budgeting is a big one. This is the perfect time to compare last year's books to this years if you haven’t already. If you’re a client, you get your P&L by year comparison, so this is easily done. 

It’s smart to do this halfway through the year or even quarterly so you can see if there’s any issues, challenges,  obstacles, or changes in the economy either pulling you off course, or improving your revenue and profit. But the end of year is when you have the full picture. 

Starting in spring 2025, our budgeting and consulting classes will be starting back up again! 

Running KPI reports or having a KPI dashboard is a huge asset when it comes to creating a budget. It’s also important to include in your planning whether or not you achieved last year's goal. 

If you had a target you exceeded, what does that mean for this year? 

If you had a target you fell short on, why did you fall short? Was there an unexpected event, was the goal unrealistic? Can you identify where a specific decision you made may have impacted your ability to hit that target? 

These are the questions to ask, and the answers ultimately will be in your data. When you uncover the answers, you can pivot or shift your goals, set new,  more realistic ones, or set different goals depending on the month. 

This is important because revenue experiences upticks in months like December, May and June. In those months, set different goals for these months. Such as selling more tickets, reaching new students, marketing etc. 

Plan to set more aside during those months to pay down debt, or add an emergency or expansion fund. 

It’s also important to revisit your calendar, specifically your task or rhythm calendar. Especially If you found yourself struggling to stay on top of important tasks this year. 

There are amazing options like Studio Planner Pro and Enrollio to free you up, so you can focus on other things. Resources like this are important, especially come tax season. You don’t want to be scrambling around afraid of missed deadlines and potential penalties. 

If you go to our website, there is an option on the homepage to download a year end checklist. It has payroll, bookkeeping, sales tax, income tax, and it includes deadlines. We encourage you to download it and print it out! It’s comprehensive, and it's such an amazing tool to keep you on task, and ensure you close out the year well. 

The other thing we’ve seen a lot of people stress over is BOI. We’ve been sharing loads of information on our social pages so you can stay up-to-date. If you’re stressed and unsure of what to do, fill out the form at https://harquinbookkeeping.com/boi and we can file for you.

There are so many things that If you’re aware ahead of time, and if you’re planning, your stress can be alleviated come year-end. Start making plans for next year now! 

We want you to set realistic goals and exceed them. 

Don’t forget, Studio owner Solutions has a free budgeting course! We have loads of valuable content in there on all different subjects, such as payroll, bookkeeping, sales tax, marketing, and taking care of yourself.

We really want you to focus on what you love! The library is pretty full, so you can keep yourself well informed and equipped. Sign up for Studio Owner Solutions here: https://dancebookkeeping.co/studio-owner-solutions.