Happy New Year!

New Year’s Eve has a lot of significance in my life, as I’m sure it has for a lot of people, and maybe you, too.

I’ve always used this day to reflect on what I’ve done and where I’ve been over the past year, but also to think about and plan where I want to be at this time next year (and beyond).

Here’s one example…

It was on New Year’s Eve in 1999 when I made a big decision as I watched the fireworks outside the window of my hotel room in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I was there for a few months (my second time living there) helping get a location up and running during my door-to-door sales days.

In fact, I had been in that game for nearly nine years at that point…

But as I watched those fireworks, I realized that I would be turning 40 in the year 2000, and at that age did I really want to still be a “road warrior”, traveling around the country with no real “home” or family of of my own?

It was right then that I made the decision to end my door-to-door sales career. I didn’t know exactly what was next, but I did know where I DIDN’T want to be anymore…

How about you?

How was your 2010?

What plans do you have for what you want to accomplish and where you want to be one year from now?

I hope you’ll take some time this weekend to think about it.

I mean REALLY think about it — not like the masses who just casually make “New Year’s Resolutions” every year, but never actually follow through with them.

As an entrepreneur, business owner or sales professional, YOU are in control of your own income and your own lifestyle.

Take some time this weekend to make some concrete decisions about what you want your life to look at a year from now, and beyond…

And take some time tonight to have some fun!

Experts say that relaxation and “recovery time” is a key to productivity — something we entrepreneurs often neglect in our hard-charging, non-stop lifestyles.

So I hope you’ll take at least a couple of days to give yourself a well-earned and much-needed break.

I know I will.

Michele and I will have a quiet dinner tonight and then watch a movie or two before turning on the TV to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Maybe we’ll even drink some fake champagne.

(Back in my younger, wilder days, I often got all dressed up and went to a party or special event — once to see the Count Basie orchestra at the Chicago Symphony and then watch the fireworks over Lake Michigan, and once I even went to hang out with the crazy mass of people in Times Square. That’s a story in itself for another time…)

One tradition I’ll uphold is to call my Mom just after the stroke of midnight tonight. That’s something I’ve been doing for I can’t remember how long, from wherever I’ve been on New Year’s Eve…

What about you?

What traditions will you continue — or start — tonight?

And what decisions will you make about what you will do and where you will be one year from now, and beyond?

Because as an entrepreneur, small business owner or sales professional, you really do get to make such DECISIONS, while the rest of the world complains about their job, or boss, or working conditions, or taxes, or benefits, or whatever — but doesn’t have the guts to get up and DO something about it.

Here’s to your DECISIONS and ACTIONS in the year ahead (raises glass of fake champagne).

If there’s any way I can help you achieve what you want and get to where you want to be, let me know.

Because that’s one plan I have for 2011: To help even more entrepreneurs, small business owners and sales professionals improve their businesses and their lives.

And yes, that includes YOU!

Happy New Year!