You have your business idea. It’s something you’ve worked on for a long time. All you’ve been waiting for is the right moment to pull the trigger. It turns out, the end of the year and the New Year are the perfect time to commit to finally making your business dreams a reality.
Here are a couple reasons to consider making the New Year your opportunity to start a business:
- With everyone looking to make resolutions in the new year, you can gain access to customers looking to make themselves better.
- Hiring is easier in the new year as people commit to advancing their career and the holiday workers are out of a job.
- As people plan ahead, you can grab a huge chunk of the market by offering early booking deals and making your products available as soon as possible
Everyone Is Starting Over
Making New Year’s Resolutions is a common practice. As the new year begins, there’s a sense that we can all start over and make this year the best one yet. With that, customers will be motivated to make changes in their lives and that requires products and services.
By jumping on the chance to sell to these newly-resolute customers, you have the chance to grab a huge portion of the market, especially for those making the decision to buy from small or new businesses in the next year.
Hiring Is Easier
Along with their resolutions, people use the New Year to commit to growing themselves personally and professionally. They will be looking for new opportunities and seeking out their next professional stepping stone. You can be there to take them to the next level. If you’re willing to take a chance on someone who’s looking to make a change in their professional life or hire someone looking to advance their career, you can find your new Employee of the Month.
Next to all those people looking to make the next year the year of professional growth is a huge pool of holiday workers that are now jobless. They will be highly motivated to accept your job offer, even for the lower-level positions. Many of them will be looking for steadier work, especially after the chaos and upheaval of the holiday season and losing their holiday employment as soon as the holiday lights come down.
People Are Planning Ahead
This is a particularly important reason to start your business during the New Year. As people are planning their resolutions, many are trying to make plans for how they’ll keep them. They’re looking months down the road at where they plan to be in accomplishing their goals and how they’ll get there. That’s where you come in.
If you offer services, offer deals for early booking. If you offer products, consider having a New Year’s Resolution sale. As people are making their plans for the rest of the year, you’ll be there to answer all their needs.
Tips For New Year’s Businesses
If you’re planning to start your company at the New Year, you should be planning early. The last few weeks of the year provide new business owners with a ton of amazing opportunities. One huge reason to start planning now is to beat the rush of paperwork being filed for businesses at the turn of the New Year.
You’ll want to make sure you’ve studied up on your local and state regulations on forming a business, but regardless of that, filing now can save you a ton of time as the bureaucracy gets back logged at the beginning of the year.
If you’re planning on using some of your 401(k) to get your business off the ground, there’s another reason to start the process before December 31. Often referred to as the “Santa Claus rally,” the last few weeks of the year usually see 401(k)s rise to their highest annual value. By getting to work in these last few weeks of the year, you can take advantage of higher returns on your investment.
Another reason to start getting your ducks in a row in the last few weeks of the year is applicable to those looking to buy an existing business. Many business brokers and sellers will be more motivated to sell at this point in the year and that means you can get a great deal on an already-established business. Plus, this will allow you to take advantage of a rush of customers from a New Year’s deal.
Before you start your business, be sure you know about your tax benefits. Because businesses are required to report their losses and profits for the year that activity in their business actually started, opening your business after January 1st can help with your bookkeeping. This way, you won’t have to report and file your federal taxes until the next year.
Finally, make sure you do your homework about your state and local regulations and potential benefits for small businesses. With so many local businesses closing recently due to the economic downturn, you may be able to take advantage of certain resources available to new small businesses.
Takeaways
As you plan on realizing your dreams, know that now is the best time to do. With the New Year comes a resurgence in hope and motivation to make things better. Let yourself feel that hope and motivation. As you’re getting things in order to start your business, keep track of the benefits to starting your business before and after January 1st. Whenever you decide to start your business, you can take control of your life. The possibilities are endless.