When you’re your own boss, every little decision for your business ultimately comes down to you. You decide how you’ll scale your business, who you’ll hire, how you’ll interact with customers, when you’ll work, how much you’ll pay yourself and how much you’ll put back into your business, and everything else.

It can be confronting to realise that the only thing determining your success is how you manage and run your business. If you’re hoping to level up, here are some ways you can improve your business this year:

Outsource

So often we get caught up in doing the little things- social media outreach, invoicing, answering customer emails, that we can find ourselves spending all our time on these daily tasks instead of growing our business. There are so many different ways you can outsource, with websites like Upwork a great option for people wanting to try it for the first time.

Keep in mind that outsourcing is harder than you would think, and you’ll need to set aside time to train the person taking over certain tasks and write out instructions for how you want things done (useful if you end up outsourcing to a new person down the track) and answer any questions. This can seem like a lot of work at first, however, it’s well worth it when you realize that you’ve got much more time on your hands to work on your business and branch out with tools such as application portfolio management.

Upskill

Smart business owners are always learning. Whether you want to take a copywriting course to help you speak better to your customers, a social media course to become better at marketing, or learn more in your field, keeping up with the latest changes in business and technology will ensure you don’t get left behind.

Consider something like the MCSE Private Cloud Certification. This certificate proves that you’re an expert in implementing and managing Microsoft cloud computing technologies and can help you stand out to your clients.

Set Goals

We’ve all heard about how setting goals is what separates the most successful people in life from everyone else. That’s why it’s so important to know exactly what your goals are for your business, and have an action plan for how you will meet them.

Spend some time looking at your business as a whole. Maybe you’d like to hire another developer, go after some bigger clients, update your business website, or earn a certain amount of income. Grab a piece of paper and write down each goal, with an explanation of why you want to meet that goal and how it will help your business grow. Look at it weekly to help yourself stay accountable, and focus on crossing everything off the list.

Manage your time

When you run your own business, it’s common to find that your day seems to disappear in front of your eyes. Download an app like Toggl or simply use a Google Spreadsheet to keep track of what you’re spending your time on each day, so you can recognise what is helpful and what’s not.