MBAs plan for the future. On balance, CPAs report what happened in the past. Entrepreneurs ought to learn from both to determine the best activities for today. Following is a list of ten things you can do today to substantially transform your business for the future:
- Clean up. Clear your work area and require everyone else to do the same. Keep “Clean Up” on your daily calendar until your place of business is efficient and appealing to your customers and employees.
- Set a goal to increase your gross sales by 500% within five years. This requires no advance preparation but if you will embrace this goal, you will start to see huge positive changes in your business and life.
- Get rid of emotional baggage. Apologize to or forgive employees, vendors, and family members. Unburden yourself of emotional baggage and you’ll find your business functions much better.
- Express thanks. Say it out loud or send a letter or e-mail with sincere appreciation to the stakeholders in your business that work so hard or extend themselves in your behalf.
- Delegate drudgery. Assign others the tasks that keep you from growing your business. You may find these tasks to be very important, like writing checks or preparing bids. Your method of prioritization may be your biggest hurdle to reaching your new objective.
- Make a list of ten growth opportunities that are big enough to reach your new goal. You can evaluate these opportunities tomorrow, but you should have a list by the end of the day.
- Write a list of your biggest distractions to increased productivity. Get rid of one of those distractions. Fire the distraction, delete it from your computer, delegate it to a subordinate, but get rid of one today.
- Set appointments to discuss your growth ideas with trusted advisors. You’ll need time, but this networking task will yield many times the food cost of the lunches you treat.
- Take some time to dream about what you will do with all the money you make when you achieve your new goal. Envisioning the future is a powerful motivator to actually complete your plans.
- Make a list of ten things you will do tomorrow to advance the business you have envisioned.
Any one task on this list will yield exponential returns to you business. Getting all ten done in one day will take a lot of work, but the rewards will be worth the effort.