As a business consultant and coach I continue to work with people every week teaching and helping them implement the skills and action steps I know work. My experiences being employed in very successful organizations, consulting with companies across numerous industries as well as running my own businesses have shown me certain fundamentals are pervasive in companies that are successful regardless of size.
The number one attribute that I find in everyone who achieves continually expanding goals is a disciplined focus of their attention on purposeful action. This means that with any goal there are certain steps that are needed if that goal is to be achieved. For example in the real estate investment business where the model is to buy property, add value and resale the property, there needs to be a supply of the right deals, a supply of money for the initial purchase plus renovation and then money from an end use buyer. Intellectually you can understand this formula but to turn the formula into profit there must be action. If you short cut the steps including the analysis there may not be any transactions or if there are, the profit you projected can be elusive.
Name a goal and the steps to achieve that goal can be mapped and once followed the goal will be achieved. This doesn’t mean the exact course is predictable. Taking action on anything is no different that what we experience in say traveling across town or the country. The route is mapped but the experiences can be surprising. When we encounter a delay or cancellation, we move around or through it. Business is no different. Enjoy the process or get out of the game.
So what does all of this have to do with Fast Start To Success With The Accelerated Accountability Program? I will use a recent example with a lady who I coached in front of a live audience at a JT Foxx 360 Millionaire event. Her mission was to become a successful real estate investor and she had done a great job of clearly defining her income goals and time line for earning that income. I challenged her on the amount and time line as they seemed somewhat aggressive considering her experience. However, she supported the amount and timing very well so they remained in tact.
Next I asked her how much time she had to devote to her business and she replied at least 50 hours. Given that I then asked her if she was committed to following the action steps necessary for her to take to achieve a successful transaction in 90 days or less. She said she was. With that response we were now able to move to the next phase which was to detail the steps she needed to take on a daily basis to achieve her goal.
These steps need to be planned by day so it is important to use an Excel spreadsheet or its equivalent for tracking your time. For example, one of the steps is to contact people who may be a source of real estate deal transactions. That amount of time planned for that step will be more in the early part of the 90 day time line as deal flow is key to beginning the process of finding a transaction that will meet your profit goal.
The idea is to have this activity and time plan at the beginning of each week and to track your actual time spent and results of your actions. The accountability part is that this schedule is shared with your coach and if you are not using a coach, it can be shared with a business partner, spouse or a friend. Knowing someone else will be reviewing this information is a powerful motivator to keep your commitments. This is intended to be a valuable tool and not a restraint on your life. The idea is to track chunks of time and evaluate the results. So if you are making calls and having meetings what are the results? You are either making progress or not. If not, how you are implementing your action plan needs to be modified.
I consistently teach The Gold Formula. The gold is in the variance and this applies to anything you intend to accomplish. There cannot be a variance calculation without a plan. Once you have a plan you can compare that to what actually happened and most of the time there will be a variance. The variance will be positive or negative. When positive, keep doing more of it and when negative, make some adjustments.
Will the lady achieve her 90 day goal? It is early in the process and we will know in less than three months. Maybe your goal is to start a business, expand your business, find a new job or a job. Maybe your goal is to be in a relationship or improve your health. Whatever your goal, once clearly defined you can use what I just described to achieve it. Now you know. Now go do it.
Steve Pohlit
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About: Steve Pohlit CPA,MBA has been the CFO and COO of major domestic and international companies. Steve has extensive business ownership experience having purchased and started off line and on line businesses. Steve offers his business building experience to companies and entrepreneurs with business coaching and business consulting. His focus is on building business profits and net asset value at above average rates. All articles published by Steve unless specifically restricted may be freely published with this resource information.