Remember the old Rolaids commercial, “how do you spell relief? R-O-L-A-I-D-S?” That was many years ago, but today stress is at an all-time high. Much of it is due to our financial concerns.
At Grow Your Business Coaching, we have a remedy, but not in pill form. It isn’t designed to address the symptoms, but more so the illness. It’s called accountability and 9 out of 10 reasons we fail at achieving our business goals isn’t due to the economy. It’s due to lack of accountability – not doing the things we know will grow our business.
Here are three techniques that can help you to stay on track.
Create a plan
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, for most it’s harder than it looks. Write down all the things you are doing and all the things you should be doing to grow your business. Now cross off the things you’re doing that isn’t helping you grow your business and replace them with things you wrote down that will. Write the due dates for each item on a calendar and paste it up at work, at home, in your underwear drawer – wherever you look that can remind you of these things. This exercise will get the real issues in front of you and help you determine what you need to be doing and what you need to hold yourself accountable to.
Find an accountability partner
Whether it is exercise or business, we often fail at holding ourselves accountable. Recognize it, and if that is you, then find someone like another business owner you trust to help hold you accountable. Share with them what you are trying to accomplish – and don’t hold back. Tell them the end result you want to achieve, the timeframe you want to do it, and how you plan to get there. Ask them to challenge you on your plan AND your actions along the way. Set regular meetings so you know you have to face that person to share your success or failure each step of the way.
Hire a business development coach
OK, shameless plug I know, but hiring a trained business development coach works for people because it provides that experienced 3rd party you need to help you make the tough decisions that are thrown at you each month. It also gives you someone that is not a friend or family member to help you with situations you may feel they’re not qualified to help with. Now you may say, “I can’t afford the fee when I am not bringing in sales.”, but instead you should be saying, “I can’t afford not to be bringing in sales anymore – something has to change.”
If you need to make a change, and if you realize that accountability is your issue, then take your first step to accountability by picking one of the options above that will work for you and make the change. Remember, we are here to help you succeed – that’s why we always offer an initial complimentary consultation.
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