Small Business AUDIT is FAR Better than a New Years Resolution.
I don’t really set New Year’s resolutions.
That’s not because I don’t believe in goals; quite the opposite. As a small business owner, every single day already requires focus, discipline, and intention. If I don’t wake up and move the business forward, nothing moves. There’s no one else driving the boat. No one else making sure overhead is covered, systems are working, or decisions are being made.
Entrepreneurship fundamentally changes the way you think. You self-evaluate constantly. You adjust in real time. You’re measuring decisions not in theory, but in outcomes. It’s a completely different mental framework than working within someone else’s system.
And not all small business ownership carries the same level of risk.
Running a business as a side project, with a safety net, is a valid version of entrepreneurship. But it’s different from being the person whose income is entirely self-created, who carries monthly overhead, and who resets the clock every single month. That version of ownership comes with higher stakes and requires a higher level of awareness.
That’s the business owner I’m speaking to.
For me, the end of the year isn’t about setting resolutions. It’s about evaluation.
Every year, I take time to look back at the benchmarks I started with and assess where I actually landed. What was our revenue? What was our net profit? Which operational systems held up under pressure and which ones quietly created friction? What decisions paid off, and which ones would I change if I had the chance to run the year again?
Only after answering those questions do I look forward.
What are we building this year? What are the objectives? Where are the goalposts for the next twelve months?
That entire process takes me about a month.
The word “audit” has become trendy in business lately, and while the term may be overused, the concept is not optional. If you want longevity, you must audit your business…at least once a year and preferably at the end of one year and the beginning of the next.
A real audit includes every part of the business, not just the enjoyable ones:
Operations
Financial framework
Marketing strategy
Human resources
Compliance and regulatory responsibilities
It’s the least glamorous part of small business ownership but it’s also the part that keeps businesses alive.
For me, this was especially important coming out of 2025. Revenue and net profit more than tripled, which required changes to things most people don’t think about until it’s too late: automatic withdrawals, quarterly payments, and financial planning. Ignoring those adjustments would have created problems down the line.
So over the past month, I created a simple annual business audit checklist - something practical, editable, and adaptable to different businesses.
Do YOU have an annual audit process - a checklist to ensure that you are navigating your business on the correct course and not just mindlessly floating around the ocean without a plan?
Because, while “Happy New Year” is a nice sentiment, for small business owners, a new year really means reflection, recalibration, and responsibility.
How do you audit your business?
