I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…we are currently in one of the main business growth zones of the year. The children are back at school, and that signifies a time of business momentum where decisions happen thick and fast so it’s a great time to grow your business.
To paint this in a slightly negative way, but in a way that might make it easier for you to motivate yourself into action…these next 6 weeks are the last business growth zone of the year; if you don’t make the most of them then you might have to wait until mid-January to try again! If you still have some way to go to reach your business goals for the year you need to take action now!
I was working with some clients this week and we got clear on what they wanted to achieve by the 26th December. I chose this date as generally it’s a more restful day than Christmas Day so you are more likely to have some time for reflection. So the question I asked them was…”what do you need to have achieved in your business to feel very happy and contented with yourself by the 26th December?” To put a good dose of realism into the proceedings, for most B2B businesses the action they take over the next 6 weeks will drive their revenue line from mid-October through to Christmas with minimal new orders/clients appearing after mid-November. So in a nutshell, you need to act quick!
So what are the actions you need to take to make sure you can feel happy & contented with your business progress by 26th December? Let’s break this down into bite sized chunks…
Step 1: Define the progress you need to make. Don’t make it all about the finances! A pure focus on the bottom line tends to lead to targets not being met and also a very short term view at the expense of the longer term strategy. This is because, invariably, you won’t spend time on putting in place the key enablers which are essential for your longer term business growth as you’ll focus on short-term money generating activities. Get clear on what you want to achieve and write it down.
Step 2: Work backwards! If you want to achieve XYZ by 26th December what do you need to do by 1st December, 1st November & 1st October? By working backwards it’ll also help you to make sure the list of goals actually feel achievable in the timeframe you’ve got.
Step 3: Write out your plan to achieving those goals each month and break it down into each week. Keep it bite-sized so it’s easy to tick things off and feel the progress. It also is a great help in avoiding procrastination!
Step 4: Block out time in your diary to get the necessary work done to ensure you take the required action. This is where most people go wrong. Plans are lovely but without the time to do the work they are somewhat pointless and can become a huge demotivator!
Step 5: Work out what things are likely to block your progress and eradicate them as much as you can. I bet if you write them in a list it will be mostly down to you managing yourself better, and you definitely have the power to do that!
Step 6: Don’t hide behind the plan! You are the only person who can take the action to move your business forward, so get stuck in.
Step 7: Keep yourself motivated. What would achieving those goals and feeling happy and contented on the 26th December mean to you?
I often say that running and growing a business isn’t intellectually difficult but it does take effort. This means that you have all you need to do this…to achieve your desired goals. You just need to TAKE ACTION. Don’t let YOU be the reason you haven’t got to where you want to be.
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