Why is it that some business owners enjoy significant growth year in and year out while others struggle just to maintain the status quo, working long hours with no sense of freedom?
It’s simple, none of us are perfect and we all have things that we procrastinate over, but if you challenge these 3 excuses on a daily basis you will realize a world of difference in the success of your business.
Reading these 3 excuses just might be the most important thing you do today, so be honest and ask yourself “do I do this?” Realizing and admitting your mistakes is the first step to revitalizing your business towards new growth and profitability. The second step is attacking these excuses with renewed conviction.
This is such an easy trap to fall into, working in your business as opposed to working on your business. What you need to do is find a way to do LESS and get your business to do MORE. But how do you do this?
One of the first things you can do is delegate those tasks that you think only you can do. You have good people (or should have) so let them perform for you. If you delegate the work you can then oversee and manage the results instead of being blind to what everyone else is doing because you are so busy “doing” yourself.
The second thing you can do is make a plan and work it. I recently said to one of my new clients, “how much time do you spend analyzing your financial statements every month and designing a plan to implement the results”? Since my client is a numbers guy the obvious answer was huge. We agreed that by letting me design a business plan and then monitoring the results for him each month, it would allow him to focus on selling more product and dedicating his time to managing his business. That’s how you grow your business.
Sound familiar? The biggest mistake or misconception with this excuse is business owners only think of the cost associated with hiring more staff, acquiring better systems or contracting outside help. My response to this is “would you spend $5,000 to make $50,000.” The obvious answer is yes but it is going to take a little faith and trust on your part that you will get the return on investment you want once you identify the need. What owners tend to ignore is the true cost of maintaining the status quo. It will cost you considerably more than it will to address the problem.
This is probably the most dangerous of the 3 excuses, because there is never a right time, right? I hear this all too often in my own business when an owner finally does contact me 6 months later after issues become evident and the damage is almost irreversible.
I am no saint because I have been known to do this myself. Just ask my consultant. Personally I think all three of these excuses boil down to one four letter word – FEAR. Fear of failure is a powerful emotion that will sabotage your motivation in a heartbeat.
Just remember, successful entrepreneurs start now, with whatever they have on hand and make things happen. If you need help or guidance with kick starting growth in your business, contract me for a free consultation. The time is now!
Reference: Excerpts from this article come from David Finkel’s article “3 Biggest Excuses That Keep Business Owners Stuck” David Finkel is a best-selling author and one of the nation’s foremost business thinkers.