New Year resolutions - you are either for them or against them. Here at Madak, the team is split. There are several of us who thrive on them, and the rest are like me; we don’t really embrace them. Most of us create resolutions that are designed to fail because they are often unattainable goals. 

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A few months ago, Ron gave the team a presentation on the book “Atomic Habits” and what stuck out to me was the 1% rule from James Clear. This book talks about tiny changes that add up to remarkable results. James states that “if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero.”

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Small wins add up. 

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So…applying this logic to New Year's resolutions, or better yet, your 2024 sales & marketing goals. 🙂 We all have lofty goals, but what we should focus on is the small wins that add up to achieving that lofty goal. 

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What are the small wins that will add up? Have you even identified the end goal? Is it attainable? Even if you don’t accomplish the end goal, will you be 37% better? 

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We often work with clients who know what they are trying to achieve but often don’t know how to get there or don’t understand how to make sense of all the small wins that are needed to achieve that end goal. Often, the focus is put on achieving that end goal, but what if you don't make it? Is all the work for nothing? Focusing on small wins along the way allows for incremental progress that leads to overall progress or growth. 1% better every day!

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In 2023, the Madak team focused on practicing what we preach. We tell brands all the time that “sometimes you need to go slow to go fast.” We spent time slowing down, working on the small wins that helped build a foundation that supports our growth!

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Here is a list of some of the small wins we focused on to “make 2024 pop” 🎉 as Adam said: 

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1. Clean House

Get rid of the stuff weighing you down. Don’t be afraid to let go of things that are not helping you get where you want. You’re probably thinking, “duh Elli, this is obvious,” but this is usually a really hard exercise. It usually means dropping things that you might be emotionally tied to, or my favorite is when I hear people say, “this is how it has always been done.” Just because this is how it has always been done or how others do it doesn’t mean you should keep doing it. This last year at Madak, we cut things both internally and externally to find out what we actually needed. You probably didn’t even notice that there was a whole month that we didn’t put out a single blog post. That’s right, a marketing agency paused their blogs. Challenge yourself and your brand! 

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2. Determine Outcomes

Don’t just set goals. Determine the outcome and work backward; what are the tangible steps that you need to take to make that outcome happen? Be strategic. Also, bonus points if you can determine steps that help multiple outcomes. This is something we do a lot in content marketing. Often, the content you create can be used for multiple purposes and help you achieve multiple goals. Madak is actively working on producing content that not only helps boost brand awareness but also builds the resources that we offer to our clients. 

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3. Embrace Tools

What tools are you using? This is both internal and external. It’s all about efficiency and effectiveness. We have used a lot of tools here at Madak. We have always been open to trying new tools and seeing how they can help our team and clients. This last year, we focused on utilizing those tools we have to their fullest potential. The most significant change was internal processes in Asana. We focused on using more features in Asana that helped the team better communicate, and we became more efficient in completing tasks. We also built out a complete employee onboarding process within Asana that we previously had used another platform for. Cutting a platform saved us money and time!

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4. Be Intentional with Your Time!

Another thing we did in 2023 that will follow us into 2024 is being intentional with our time. We all know time is precious. As a team, we chose to be more intentional with our time, and our production went up. One feature the team now uses weekly to help us be more intentional is “focus time” on our Google Calendars. This feature allows us to communicate to the team that I am focusing on a task or project please don’t schedule any meetings. This is the remote version of shutting your office door. 🚪 We can still communicate with any team member in “focus time” but it makes us stop and think, can it wait? And honestly, 99.9% of the time it can.

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5. Celebrate Along the Way

Have fun! Celebrate the small wins along the way. We all need encouragement and motivation to continue doing things we set out to do. Your team supports everything that your brand does externally. Find ways to celebrate your team personally and professionally. As well as publicly. Brands need to be authentic and show life behind the curtains. The biggest trend for marketing that will continue to grow in 2024 is producing authentic, raw content—the story behind the brand. People are following the people on social media, not the brands. Engagement on our Madak social media is very low compared to Adam’s social media. People are interested in the people at Madak, not Madak. 

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6. Build a Strong Foundation 

Just like a house needs a strong foundation to stand the test of time, so does your brand. This is both internal and external. All too often, we see brands doing amazing things, but they aren’t seeing the results because there are cracks in the foundation that need to be fixed that are sucking up all the results. Do the work to build a strong foundation and you will instantly see the benefits. This mean slowing down to analyze and evaluate all aspects of your sales & marketing. What are you doing? How are you doing? Is it even working? Could we do it differently? Avoid the "well we have always done it this way" mindset. Be brave, try new things, cut things and build a foundation that supports your growth.

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Slowing down is not something that comes naturally; it takes work. But doing the work sets you up for greater success later. Eliminate your chaos and focus on the small things that will allow you to soar in 2024. It’s not too late.

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Take a look at our advice in action with Madak Monday Wrapped (Best of 2023)!