New Year's Resolutions for Entrepreneurs

Forget dieting. To help fatten your bottom line in 2011, the experts at Entrepreneur.com suggest the following new year's resolutions for business owners.

Business Planning
Harness the power of planning your time well, taking care to allocate your schedule according to priorities. Wait when it's appropriate, hurry when it's appropriate, and apply patience, vision and common sense. -- Tim Berry, Business Plans

Social Media
Do whatever it takes to get out of your comfort zone and into your "power place" to grow your business. Embrace change and new technologies, including social sites. Choose what works best for reaching your target market, and run with it. Most important: Have fun. -- Starr Hall, Social Media

Sales
In 2011, show up to the meetings that you would have passed on previously. Never underestimate the power of face-to-face meetings for building stronger relationships and connections with your prospects and customers. Activity creates opportunity. -- Barry Farber, Make the Sale

E-Commerce
Develop and implement systems that will free up time that you can spend on other pursuits. What really matters most is making a measurable amount of progress in a reasonable amount of time and spending time with loved ones. Do the only things about which you’re passionate and work with only your ideal clients. -- Lena West, Ask Entrepreneur

Technology
Take the security of your business seriously. Change all your passwords. Close down old unused accounts for emails, business software and social networks. And set up a password for your mobile phone. -- Jonathan Blum, Office Technology

Managing
Resolve to invest heavily in the people and technology necessary to meet client demands and seize market opportunity. -- Paul Spiegelman, Corporate Culture

Online Marketing
Understand your customers’ experience with your business. It's essential for businesses to look at what they do from their customers' point of view and then smooth out any rough edges. Customers have so many options. You can't afford a single reason for one to choose a competitor’s business over yours. -- Gail Goodman, E-Mail Marketing

Communications
The new year will see an acceleration of the reinvention of media. With so many ways to reach so many different types of consumers, reaching out to a variety of outlets through diverse media is critical. Craft customized content and send it via multiple platforms engage customers wherever they may be. -- Rachel Meranus, Public Relations

Productivity
It's critical to get absorbed in your business niche to achieve mastery. But, most importantly, laugh, love and live more fully. -- Scott Halford, Brainy Business

Starting Young
Forget the mantra of “work hard, get good grades and go to school to get a job." For too long, young people have been force-fed this nonsense from their parents and mentors. It's stifling their income generating potential. Gen Y needs to become the most entrepreneurial generation in history. -- Scott Gerber, Never Get a "Real" Job

Video Marketing
Create at least one professionally-produced video for the homepage of your website and social media sites. It should show y why your business is the best choice among the competition and include a compelling incentive to make an immediate purchase and share the video with others. -- John Arnold, Marketing Tools & Technologies

Selling a Business
Prepare yourself psychologically. Make sure you’re emotionally committed and ready for the sale, or you may turn buyers off to your business. -- Domenic Rinaldi, Buying & Selling a Business

Buying a Business
Making a concrete plan to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams, and take at least one action every day that will help you achieve your goal. Set a realistic timeline for when you will reach the major milestones on your path to entrepreneurial success. -- Mike Handelsman, Buying & Selling a Business

Real Estate
Question the experts in your field and find out who the real experts are. Hint: If they’re in Washington or on television, they might not be experts. -- Greg Rand, Real Estate Realities

Growing
Turn your small mom-and-pop business into a bigger opportunity this year by launching the projects you never got around to in 2010. -- Lisa Druxman,Mompreneur

Prioritizing
Ask yourself, “What can I stop doing?” Begin to put stronger accountability practices into place to create a better business foundation. -- Nina Kaufman, Making It Legal

Mobile Marketing
Make mobile marketing a high priority. Capture mobile shoppers by updating your website to load quickly in a variety of browsers and making them Facebook and Twitter interactive. Offer competitive pricing and tap into the soaring popularity of coupons by texting them to your customers' mobile phones. -- Kim T. Gordon, Marketing