As the end of the year approaches, business owners typically have a laundry list of tasks. Of them, there are three tasks, in particular, that leaders cannot overlook. While they don’t need to be completed before year-end, they should be addressed annually for yearly planning.

For those of us who never went to business school but found our way into entrepreneurship, it takes practical experience to determine which tools best serve us in the real world. After 10 years of starting and scaling multiple businesses, I can unequivocally state that SWOT analysis is one of the most efficient tools for quickly auditing a business at any stage and determining necessary next steps.