It's December and you know what that means. Not only is it holiday mania but this is also the perfect time to get yourself ready for the New Year.

If you're an entrepreneur who is ready to enjoy more business success next year, I would highly encourage you to take a little time to work ON your business (rather than IN your business) before the start of the New Year. Below are 3 tips to help you get focused and ready to shine!

1. Make sure you celebrate your past success. This one isn't easy for me to do either (much easier to make a list of all the things I want to get done next year). But if you don't celebrate what you DID accomplish last year, what would be the motivation for achieving next year's goals?

You need to give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it! (And be honest, when was the last time you gave yourself any sort of credit?)

Here's what I would suggest doing -- get a piece of paper and write down 50 things you accomplished last year.

Yes I said 50. And no I won't take "but I didn't accomplish 50 things" as an answer. You see, by setting an intention to come up with 50 means you're not going to stop at 3 and miss a bunch that you really need to congratulate yourself for.

Next, celebrate! Buy yourself a nice cup of coffee, sit in a bathtub or call up a friend or associate and tell them what you accomplished. Let yourself feel good about what you accomplished -- you did good!

2. Write down your goals for next year. This is important -- especially the writing down part. If you don't write them down, the chances of you actually accomplishing them are pretty unlikely. In fact, it's pretty close to zero. According to a famous study of Harvard graduates, less than 5 percent of those who didn't write down their goals actually accomplished them.

And don't rush this either. I'm not going to give you a number to hit, but take some time and actually think about what you want to accomplish next year. And make them specific -- don't just say "make more money." Put a number in there -- how much money do you want to make. Even better, write down how you plan to make more money -- launch a new product? Get X number of people into your coaching program?

3. Now break down your goals into steps. This is probably the biggest thing you can do to make sure you actually achieve your goals.

The more specific you make your goals and the more you break them down into doable action steps, the easier it's going to be to follow through with them.

So for instance, with the "make more money" goal. Break it down into how you're going to make more money -- like launch a product or get your coaching program going. Get your calendar out and put those milestones in your calendar so you know what you're shooting for.

Now the idea here isn't to make this a big, difficult task. Have fun with it. You're planning your year and you can turn it into anything you want it to be! This is exciting! Take time to enjoy the process. This is your life and your business -- you should be able to transform it into exactly what you want it to be.

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency.   She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business.   To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at http://www.MichelePW.com Copyright 2009 Michele Pariza Wacek.