Resolving to do differently, be better in the New Year is a ritual that dates back more than 4,000 years.  I bet you have a laundry list of both personal and professional resolutions on which you are already wavering. 

If that isn’t the case, congratulations, you have iron-will.  However, if you are at all like me, and are already irresolute in your resolutions, maybe it’s because they have a design flaw.

Resolutions, for the most part, don’t work.  I’m not shirking thousands of years of tradition; rather I’m suggesting that every time one of my own resolutions fails it is usually because it is tethered to the previous year’s failures. This year, let’s start 2012 off with a bang and absolve ourselves from what fell short in 2011.

Here are a few of my suggestions for what you can do to achieve business success in 2012. Here, at the BBB, we have tried some of these tips and have seen great success.

Don’t just join, participate in social media. It’s no longer joining the band wagon.  Social media is a part of our lives and a huge factor in business success whether we like it or not.  Use this free marketing opportunity to engage with current customers and attract new ones. Social media is the new frontier of marketing and the possibilities are endless.  Join the rest of us and you won’t be disappointed.

Take full advantage of your BBB Accreditation.  Your BBB offers so many benefits to each of our Accredited Businesses – everything from low-cost, pre-negotiated advertising to our Request A Quote program (which links your business to consumers more efficiently through our website) to BBB Logo recognition.  Learn more about Accreditation benefits by visiting the Business Login Page on the BBB website.  For help and additional information, contact us at info@sandiego.bbb.org.

Enter the BBB Torch Awards.  Start early, give it your all and you could walk away with a Torch trophy and an unprecedented opportunity to advertise and market your business as one of the most trustworthy and respected in San Diego County.

Cut your to-do list in half. I’ve said it before, it’s hard letting go. Delegating your workload to your employees can be difficult because it requires trust and faith in their ability, but if you allow yourself to cut out the mundane and tactical parts of your workload, you will find that you have more time and energy to strategize new ways to expand and market your business, undoubtedly increasing your successes.

Don’t be afraid to do something different. The true message I would like to leave you with is not to be held-back by 2011’s botches.  Reinvent yourself, your services, or your mission. Sometimes all your business needs to reach the next level of success is a little creativity, imagination and flexibility.

I hope your 2012 reaches new heights in every way. Here’s to our future successes and failures, and our resolutions being tied only to the present. Happy New Year to all!