If you're an entrepreneur or business owner, chances are you're a deeply motivated and aspirational person, so you're probably no stranger to New Year's Resolutions. You might make the promise to yourself to stay in shape, to eat better, or to follow up on various personal relationships. 

But what about your business? The New Year is a time of ceremonial change, a chance to reevaluate bad practices and set your sights on a brighter future. In short, it's exactly the shot in the arm a business needs in order to improve. New Year's Resolutions need not solely apply to your personal life - they can be powerful reminders that business ownership is a constant work of self-betterment and adaptation. 

This New Year, in addition to making personal New Year's Resolutions, set some goals for your business. Break out the whiteboard or sticky notes and write down the following resolutions, each of which are, with enough resolve and work, easily attainable in the following calendar year. 

Bring Your Employees Closer Together

The advantages of teambuilding are threefold: 

• A unified team that works well together is great for your bottom line

• A unified team projects a more attractive work culture. With a prized work culture, you can attract better talent. 

• Having a team that gets along is just better for your normal workday life. It takes messy problems like workplace scuffles and politics off your plate, allowing you to focus on the big picture. 

To bring your employees closer together, plan a teambuilding retreat. Take your employees axe throwing at BATL where they can have fun away from a work context. Hand out quarterly awards for improvement and effort, which show appreciation and motivate future work. Spoil your employees a little, picking up the check on a nice night out, with dinner and drinks. All these small gestures add up, and can greatly improve workplace unity and morale. 

Set Clear, Attainable Goals

Yes, you want to be the biggest player in your industry. Yes, you want to expand, deepen and corner the market, crushing your competitors. But that's not exactly a tenable resolution. Instead, focus on small goals you want to accomplish by December 31st next year. Write them down, share them with your team, and check in throughout the year to monitor progress. 

Get Involved in Your Community

Business isn't always about the bottom line. Sometimes, it's about affecting meaningful change in your immediate community. This year, earmark some money for local charities, or take a work retreat to give back to the community that's helped your business. Not only is this a generous use of a business, but it further ingratiates you to the community - and that's never bad PR!

Achieve a Work/Life Balance

It's one thing to want success, but it's another thing to be so slavishly devoted to your business that you forget to live your life. This year, try to strike a more moderate work/life balance, allowing you time and energy for family, friends and your own wellbeing. This might mean finally delegating work and processes that you've been putting off (it can be hard to cede control) or setting a more reasonable work hour structure. 

Revamp Your Hiring Process

There are numerous blogs debating what exactly the backbone of a good business is. Is it the accounting department, the sales department, the HR department? No, it's the undercurrent of all those: the hiring process. If you want to improve this year, start by revamping your hiring process. Spend more time on seeking valuable talent, and more resources on properly onboarding. It's impossible to quantify the positive effects this will have on your business, but rest assured it will be major. 

Create Realistic Financial Projections

This is more for startups and new businesses, but it bears mentioning. Forecasting isn't the sexiest facet of running a business, but if you want to attract quality investors, it's a must. Take the time to consult cross-departmentally on the future of the business, and create realistic financial projections. Quickbooks has a great little write-up about creating financial projections, if the concept is foreign to you. 

While everyone is using the New Year's as a ceremonial excuse to self-improve, take the very same opportunity to improve your business. Business resolutions don't need to be grand, nor do they need to fundamentally alter your processes - they just need to be clear-headed and straightforward. Success happens incrementally, and New Year's Resolutions are a fantastic way of codifying those increments.