How we feel about anything is a great barometer for prioritizing an action plan. If you feel a major pain in your chest, the actionable options and the time frame for implementation are generally clear. However, once we move past a life threatening emergency, we have a tendency to not move as purposely.
Why is it that we often take a “let’s see what happens” approach? Actually there are many reasons. We rely on the news to tell us how we are doing. Currently the news reports the US is in a recession so we decide to accept that and feel bad. We also decide to live in fear. We fear lost sales and profits, we fear losing our business or our jobs and more. This feeling bad or feeling negative state results in us being “off our game”. Life a professional athlete, we don’t perform to our potential.
There a many companies in a hiring freeze and have indefinitely suspended pay increases even when they are deserved by a star person’s performance. The valued employees in place are asked to do more for the same or less pay. Businesses scale back on marketing programs, investments in technology and in general any spending that seemingly hurts short term cash flow and earnings.
All of these actions and more have a direct negative impact on long term results. When the news tells us things are getting better and we decide to be back “on our game”, we find valuable employees leaving for a better place to work, we find competitors who have become stronger rather than weaker while we were holding back and we find a shortage of excellent outside talent to help us with projects that are now coming out of hibernation.
Does this scenario sound familiar? If you are younger than 25 it may not. But if you are under 25 pay attention and maybe it will be you who will learn from the current economic experiences. Maybe it will be you who decides there is no law for us ever to be in an economic downturn. There is no law that requires us to feel bad or be angry about anything.
We have an opportunity at the start of each day to move forward or stagnate and eventually fade away. I suggest you decide right now to move your business forward.
The Top 5 Action Steps For Moving Your Business Forward Starting Today
1. Decide what revenue and profit before tax you want to report for the year ended twelve months from today.
2. Roll those numbers back to what you want to report one month from now and for each subsequent month for this next year. (It makes no difference when you are starting this. Use the twelve month horizon right now.)
3. For the next two months, roll the revenue and profits number back to what your business needs to do each week starting this week to hit your monthly target.
4. Translate your two month weekly and monthly targets into specific action plans with assigned accountability.
5. Measure actual vs. planned performance with close attention to your actual vs. planned cash position. Support and hold people accountable for performance.
Taking purposeful action is the key to moving forward. The alternative is to sit back read the news to find out how good or bad you feel. Your choice. (If you would like to discuss these steps and how I have helped companies effectively implement these for long term business performance improvement, contact me at 727-587-7871.)
Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.
Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com
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Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip