A quick look through my feeds and it seems like everyone turns into Nostradamus this time of year… Rather than cobble together a post on what I think the business world will hold for us in ’09 (as I have no idea to be honest) I thought I’d jot down my business (PR) resolutions instead.

We know it is going to be a tough year and this is how I plan on dealing with it.

1. Work flexibly — Be as productive as possible, limit commuting/travel to absolute necessity and get through the most work I can during working hours

2. Reduce evening working — Often just because I haven;t been as productive during the day as I could be but it leaves me feeling peed off if I work late all the time

3. Service, service and service — Clients HAVE to come first in our business but I intend to ask for a lot more input into how we are doing, where we could improve and continue to make sure our service is impeccable this year

4. Ramp up new business — Keep networking both on and off line, look at new services we can offer and continue to be competitively priced in 2009

5. Don’t look for the answer to “How’s business?” in spreadsheets — Continue as I always do to get out there and speak to clients, participate in campaigns, direct programmes and be a partner for clients.  the numbers only tell you so much….times like these mean you need to keep your head up and get out there

6. Keep hiring — New business was great for us at the end of last year so we are in a good place.  In the past, I have seen agencies try to squeeze FAR too much work out of people when the economy is bad, it is essential to keep hiring within your means, be fair to employees, reward loyalty and make sure people aren’t ground into the floor or you’ll lose all your good people the minute the economy picks up

7. Keep listening and learning — Whilst it might be tempting to offer the safe old campaigns and ideas in PR this year, that is not where the results will come from in many cases or where the budgets will be….need to keep improving, trying new stuff and measuring it as we go because nobody’s an expert unless they keep learning

8. Keep collaborating and helping out — Last year really was the year of community for me and I want to keep that spirit up this year

Cross posted at http://www.ruderfinn.co.uk/blogs