2016 is almost upon us.

And I don’t know about you but I can’t wait. It’s been a difficult year in many ways, but I’ve also made an incredible shift in the way I think about my company, my life, and the people I want to help.

A lot of that is thanks to a few resources and individuals that literally keep my business afloat and make it possible to serve my best clients better.

I think you should be able to access the same resources too – so you can get prepared right now for an outstanding, exceptional, holy-crap-amazing 2016.

*Some of these are affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you buy. But I wouldn’t be recommending them if I didn’t know how valuable they are to my business and genuinely believe they will help yours. 

Do you have what you need to create a plan for next year?

Check out my five must-have tools for creating a seriously awesome business with as many raving fans as you can handle:

1. A Mastermind Group | Joining a mastermind is the single most important investment I’ve ever made in my business. If you don’t know what a mastermind is, it’s basically a group of peers who share a similar path or goal, but may have completely different businesses. My group meets in person 4x/year and on conference call 1x/month, plus we have ongoing email interaction. It’s simply amazing to be able to bounce ideas off of a whole bunch of people with their own unique perspectives…any time I need to. There are lots of different masterminds out there, and you have to find the right one for you. But you can check out the specs on my group here, if you want to get a sense of how they work.
2. LeadPages | If any part of your business involves having an email list, LeadPages is the single best way to manage and grow it. You don’t need technical expertise – their tutorials are excellent. And if you are code-savvy, they offer lots of flexibility to design your own opt-in, webinar registration, sales pages and more. This is by far my favorite online tool.
3. PopupAlly Pro | Developed by Nathalie Lussier, who is seriously the most polite online marketing expert I’ve ever encountered, PopupAlly Pro allows you to design beautiful pop-up windows for your web site with no technology barriers. And the settings options give you total control over who sees the pop-ups and when, so you don’t have to worry about being annoying. There is a free version that is also great, but I found that investing in the one-time license fee was totally worth it for all the extra options, designs and settings.
4. Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast | John Lee Dumas releases a podcast episode every. Single. Day. And each one is jam packed with inspiring stories from entrepreneurs who have failed spectacularly and then turned things around. My fave podcast by a landslide. Other great ones are the Smart Passive Income podcast with Pat Flynn and Michael Knouse’s Startup Sessions. I <3 everything these guys put out.
5. A Business Plan | Well, it wouldn’t be Renegade Planner if I didn’t plug the importance of a business plan! For people looking for financing, I’m rather partial to my DIY Business Planner, but you can also download free templates from SCORE Association, Futurpreneur and several other sources.

If you have a retail store (online or brick-and-mortar), I also have to recommend Shopify to handle your sales. It’s robust, simple to use, insanely affordable, and Canadian =) Check it out here.

Is there something missing from this list? What kind of tool or resource are you looking for to help you launch or grow your business? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll ask my mastermind group for a recommendation if I don’t have one already.

2016, people. Let’s get you set up for a banner year.