The hardest part of making a New Year’s resolution? Taking that very first step towards achieving it.

Which direction will that step take you in and how big should it be? What are you stepping into and what are the risks involved?

Here at Skaled, we love resolutions, because we specialize in helping startups achieve theirs.

This New Years, we’re resolving to help even more growing startups  hone their sales and business models and achieve that next level of desired success.

And we’re kicking things off by offering one lucky startup a crash course with our sales guru himself, Skaled CEO Jake Dunlap.

This is an opportunity to bring your sales or business related goals to an expert on scaling startups and their sales processes, and receive valuable advice on taking those first steps. This is what we do every day for our clients, and as our New Year’s gift to you, we’re offering the opportunity to get in on our secrets for free!

To get your gears grinding on the goal process, we thought we’d start by having our team members share their own goals for the new year. Check out what Skaled hopes to achieve in the coming months, for our own company and the startups we work with…

“This year is the year of letting go and moving forward. Success can force you to anchor to what got you to that point. Growth can only happen when you venture back out into the world and failure is again an option. This year I am focused on NOT focusing on doing what I’m good at,  but instead learning one new thing every day and gaining a baseline understanding of high level on two very specific growth topics.”

– Jake Dunlap, Founder & CEO

“2014 will be a year of growth, for both Skaled and the startups we work with. One of the most rewarding parts of my position is to help turn our clients from talented founders into sales rock stars! I have always known that sales is not the dark art that many attribute it to, and it is so exciting to see the light bulb pop on for our clients when they discover this as well. My hope for 2014 is for the Skaled team to become an even bigger, better resource for our clients, and to continue to help grow the businesses of some of the most exciting startups around!”

– Nicole Hipp, Senior Business Consultant

“This year, a major resolution I have is to hone my closing skills. My focus for the coming months is to bring more deals across the finish line. One of the most important ingredients to successfully closing deals is giving yourself plenty of opportunities.  So I’m resolving to create more appointments, seek feedback, and work hard on my closing process and mentality.”

– Irwin O’Donnell, Senior Business Consultant

“As the Social Media Editor of the Skaled team, my resolution is to align our brand with regular quality content on both our blog and outside publications. As we develop our voice as a thought leader for startup growth, I will commit myself to developing that image by creating content every single day. More specifically, I’ll be committing myself to publishing two blog posts a week for 2014.”

– Britany Robinson, Social Media Editor

Now it’s your turn! Share your startup’s resolution in the comments section below. On January 16th, we’ll select a winner at random and that startup will receive a one hour crash course on improving sales with Skaled CEO, Jake Dunlap where you can pick his brain and lay out a plan for your startup in 2014. Let’s take the first step together by defining our startup resolutions for the new year, and maybe you’ll be the lucky startup to win the opportunity to lay out a plan of action with Jake! You can’t win if you don’t enter, so let’s hear those resolutions!

What is your resolution for your startup in 2014? Leave your answer in the comments section below, and a winner will be chosen at random on January 16th…

(And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more inspiration and information on startup growth in the coming year.)