As a business owner, do you even know what you’re trying to achieve? Waking up and hoping that today will be better than yesterday is not much of a strategic initiative and will do nothing to advance your dream. Alternatively, simple statements like I want to be wealthy or sell the company someday and retire just don’t cut it, they are just too vague.

Being successful in business is a combination of hard work, focused attention, and luck. Unfortunately, all three elements must work in harmony to ensure a fruitful outcome.

Hard work is not enough

Hard work on its own is not enough. Heck if it only took hard work, most entrepreneurs would be multi-millionaires. Similarly, focused attention by itself won’t do anything if you don’t put things into action. 

It’s like spending the day watching an aquarium full of fish, entertaining but not very productive. And lastly, there’s luck. They say that luck is nothing more than preparedness meeting opportunity and preparedness is equal parts hard work and focused attention on your desired outcome.

Stephen Covey stated that you must begin with the end in sight and in my opinion the best way to do that is to take the time and define why you went into business in the first place. 

Once that is completed, sit down and write a one pager describing what your business will look like when in five years. This exercise will force you to crystallize all those thoughts running through your head and give you a target to hit.  In other words your end game.

For examples and worksheets go to my website at www.gregweatherdon.com/download

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon 2015

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Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.

Entrepreneurs are notorious for not delegating duties and responsibilities within their organizations. A common reason for this that they figure it’s just easier and quicker to do it themselves than to take the extra time required to train someone. So instead, they just figure they’ll work a little harder.

Delegating Is Freedom

For those lucky few who do find enlightenment, they quickly realize how learning to delegate can be a revelation in freedom that, over time will allow to become a better manager and allow you to focus on the long range plan of your organization, instead of being stuck in the moment.

Contrary to what most people assume, delegating is easier than you think. Instead of trying to delegate a whole task start by breaking it down into bite size pieces. For instance, if a task requires ten steps to complete, start by delegating the first few steps. That may be as simple as getting an individual to collect some of the some initial data.

By delegating those couple of items is the beginning of the training process. Once you’re comfortable, you can delegate a few more of the steps and before long you have effectively delegated 70% of the task, thereby freeing you to focus on higher value activities that really do require your attention and possibly gaining some additional freedom.

Copyright © Greg Weatherdon

If you found this helpful, Tweet, Like or tell a friend.

Get More LIFE Out of Your Business

You shouldn’t be the hardest working person in your company.

Many small business owners find that even after the struggling start-up years, they’re working too many hours and still managing every aspect of their businesses.

Greg Weatherdon has been there, done that. As an entrepreneur, he learned not only how to get a business to the point of running smoothly, but also how to reduce the number of hours he worked, delegate more responsibility to his employees, and take longer vacations while his business chugged along like a well-oiled machine. And now he is providing the secret to success.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

1. Business ownership isn’t living up to the dream.
2. Endless workdays.
3. You can’t find good people.
4. Profits are less than expected.
5. You can never take a vacation.

You’re not alone. But there is a solution. As Greg demonstrates, with some time and effort, you really can Get More Life Out Of Your Business.