Do you know who you are and what you want? If you know what you want, do you go after it relentlessly?
It takes discipline not to be distracted and to stay in the direction of your end goal. So how do you avoid being distracted by getting sucked into doing things that are not doing you any favours and losing self-respect along the way? Especially now when we, as business owners, are faced with various challenges and frustrations that are out of our control? What is in our control is being able to pick a lane and sticking to it… and refusing to stop until we get to the other side!
So what are the steps for you to take to get back on track?
STEP 1 – You have to give 100% participation. What you put in you will get out. It’s called taking action!
STEP 2 – Stay disciplined and get back to focusing on the basics. Most business owners lack the discipline to concentrate on the basics of business and don’t spend time on the key focus areas which will take them towards their goal.
Discipline is what will be the decider between success and failure. The discipline to be able to say no to the things that will hold you back from achieving your goal. You are in control of your own destiny.
Ask yourself the following questions:
“Is what I am doing now stopping me or my business from moving towards my goal?”
“What am I doing differently to what I was doing, preventing me from moving forwards toward my goal?”
Focus on what is the truth and not what you may believe to be true as a lot of what we hear and see is based on assumptions and not fact. Choose the voices you need to hear not what you want to hear.
Do you have the following in place and actively focus on them?
1. Detailed and documented business plan? (Direction)
How do you plan to get to your destination if you don’t know where you are going or how to get there?
2. Detailed and documented Marketing PLAN? (Plan)
How do you know if you will achieve your sales and profit goals? How many new clients/customers have you closed and were they directly a result of your Marketing PLAN? Is your Marketing PLAN budget focused?
3. Clear Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) to measure performance? (Testing and measuring)
With clear KPIs you can track progress and adjust where required to ensure that you stay on track to achieve your financial and non-financial goals. What are your financial and nonfinancial goals and targets?
4. Five Ways Numbers (Financial stability)
This is still one of the simplest yet powerful ways to grow your profits in your business. How much thought and planning goes into the most profitable areas of the business, what are the number of transactions, the average rand spend per transaction? Whilst lead generation and conversion rates are critical to your growth these other three are your primary focus areas. Every business, no matter your industry or years in business can grow in all five of these areas of your business.
5. Build your Support Structure
Every business owner will face highs and lows. Who do you have to lean on i.e. your ‘pillar of strength’ and sounding board? To play your role as an effective leader, business owner and employer we need to ensure that we are surrounding ourselves with people that will pick us up, push us, motivate us, educate us and grow us, so that we can play this very important role to our team, clients, suppliers, strategic partners etc. and of course, first and foremost you and your family.
In conclusion, the market in South Africa is not easy, however, with clarity of thought, consistency and discipline, together with some hard work every one of us will be able to grow our businesses in this economy. We need to step up to the plate, to grow our businesses and ultimately create employment opportunities. If we don’t who will?
If you don’t have these basic fundamentals in place in your business, then take action and have a one-on-one with me to see what your next step needs to be to assist you in finding your lane and helping you to stick to it and achieve your financial and non-financial goals.
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