10 Year End Review Questions for Your Business

It’s annual business review time

Time to look at the metrics and see how your business fared this year. Whether you’re just starting out and it was your first year in business or if you’ve been in business for many years, conducting an annual business review is so important.

Because one thing that doesn’t lie? Your metrics! Whether you had a good year or a tough one, your metrics have a story to tell, if you’re willing to listen.

An annual business review doesn’t have to be labor intensive. It can be a pleasant and informative process that can help you set yourself up for even more success in the coming year.

Why do a year-end review for your business

Even if you’re a running a small business, like a coaching business, healing practice, or creative freelancing, doing a year end business review can be beneficial. Setting aside time to review your year can help you take a look back and see how far you’ve come.

While it’s tempting to just start dreaming about all you want to accomplish in the next year, you gain more wisdom when you can first appreciate how you got to where you are today.

This article will help you plan and conduct your own year end review for your business in a simple and easy process.

How an annual business review benefits you

An annual review for your business is beneficial for a few reasons:

• You’ll get insight into what worked and what didn’t over the past year
• You’ll see how far you’ve come in the last 365 days
• You’ll get closure and tie up any loose ends in the past year

It’s important to conduct your year end review *before* you set your business goals and marketing plan for the next year, so that you can move forward with confidence and clarity.

The purpose of your annual business review isn’t to go over everything you did in detail, but take a high level review of your year and understand your key learnings, so you can make conscious decisions going forward.

Here’s how to conduct your end of year business review

Follow these steps to conduct a simple and easy annual review for your business.

Schedule your annual business review in your calendar.

First, you want to schedule some time in your calendar. I recommend blocking out  2-3 hours. That should be plenty of time to look at the metrics AND give you some time to reflect and digest your feelings about the metrics. Remember that metrics are imply INFORMATION. They are not “good” or “bad.” But, you’ll likely also have feelings about those metrics — likely based on whether or not you achieved your business goals.

Find a space where you can dive into your annual business metrics and shut out the world.

Second, find a good spot for your year-end review. For some, it helps to go to another location, such as a coffee shop, coworking space, or a library. Others can do it from their home office, barring online and offline distractions. Whatever you do, shut down all the rest of the tabs on your computer and set the intention of doing a real and conscious review on your business. Remember those old corporate review days? Well, now you get to do it… for yourself!

Gather up all your business metrics for the year

Third, you’ll want to gather up ALL your information from the past year. (This is often what takes the most time!) You’ll want everything from your offer metrics (such as # of services and products you sold, the # of sales calls,  the # of clients, etc.), your marketing metrics (like your email marketing #s, some baseline website metrics, and social media numbers), as well as your overall revenue and expense numbers, along with what I call “CEO numbers.”

Create your own EOY business review template (or use mine)

You want to compile the most important and most relevant metrics all in one place. Right now, your social media metrics are in the various platforms. Your income and expenses are in your accounting software. And you might have other numbers in your calendaring software or client management system. You want to compile the numbers all in ONE place. 

If you want to use my End Of Year Business Planning Template (along with a video tutorial on how to use it), you can grab that here. 

What to do after you’ve run your numbers in your annual business review

After you’ve compiled your numbers, whether in your spreadsheet or the one linked above, you want to reflect on the story that the numbers are telling you. Now is the time for you to digest what the numbers are telling you and find the key learnings.

Remember the famous quote, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” by George Santayana. You want to see what you can glean from your numbers and decide what you’ll do with that information in the future year.

How do you glean this information? Start by asking yourself these 10 end of the year review questions.

10 end-of-the-year review questions for your business

Now that you’ve settled in with your favorite beverage and journal, it’s time to consider your answers to the following questions.

What was the state of my business at the start of the year vs. today?

Consider where you were in January of this year, what your goals were, what your challenges were, what your services and programs looked like, how you served your clients, and how you felt about your business. How would you describe your business at the start of the year vs. today? What has changed? What has stayed the same?

What are the numbers telling me about this year in business?

What story are the numbers telling you? Was it a great year for courses but not so great for 1:1 work? Did you get more effective at your sales consultations or discovery calls by increasing the conversion rate? Did you sell more of one product than others? Were most clients repeat clients or new clients? (See the EOY Business Review Template for even more numbers related questions.)

What were my biggest learnings in my business this year?

What aha moments occurred this year? What realizations did you have, either about yourself as a business owner or about your business? What were your biggest learnings?

What were the key pivots that I made in my business this year and what were the results?

We all usually end up pivoting and changing direction over the course of the year, whether it’s changing up your offer, niche, or marketing. Consider what changes you made this year — and the results of those changes.

What business activities did I most enjoying this year?

It’s so beneficial to understand what things we love doing in our business, so that we can create the conditions to do more of these things. What was fun for you this year? What do you want to do again? What marketing strategies did you enjoy the most?

What were my biggest highlights and accomplishments in my business this year?

You don’t have to win an award to accomplish something. An accomplishment can be learning something, trying something new, doing something for the first time, etc. List all the accomplishments you can think of this year. Consider the hard moments and struggles as well. 

What things did I try, but didn’t work out the way I wanted.

Trying new things is part of being a successful business owner. Celebrate the trials whether or not you got the results you wanted. What have you tried this year? What were the results? What did you learn about yourself in the process?

Where did I stretch myself this year in my business?

Getting out of your comfort zone is key to your own growth and that of your business. Pinpoint those moments where you stretched yourself. These are moments that required courage or taking a leap, deepening your sense of self-trust along the way.

How do I feel about the state of my business now?

The way you feel about your business says a lot. Are you feeling energized by your business or are you feeling drained? Are you feeling excited about your new direction or are you feeling afraid? What are these feelings telling you?

What do I need to let go of this year in order to move into the new year with a fresh slate?

When you’re willing to see the learnings, you can let go of the experiences, and move into a new year with a feeling of lightness and positivity about your business. What are you willing to leave behind this year? What do you want to carry into the next one?

Celebrate completing your annual review for your business

After you’ve journaled your answers to the above questions, give yourself some time and space to process what you’ve learned.

Take time to celebrate your progress! You might even come up with an idea to reward yourself and celebrate your year. Keep your notes so that you can reflect on your growth again one year from today.

After that, it’s time to get ready to start focusing on what you want to see in your life and business next year.