Two Words Tie it All Together

Two Words Tie it All Together

As a small business owner, you are already well familiar with risk. You face it every single day. You face it with every contract and job you enter into. You have a defined purpose for being a small business owner. You have a business mission/purpose. This serves as a compass to your map. Your map? That’s your business plan. You have that!! Maybe yours is so good that there are some venture capitalists looking to invest. You have everything, but, for some reason, you are not anywhere near as successful as you should be. Why? It comes down to two words, Follow Through.

Follow Through. It’s taught and practiced as a vital part of your golf swing. It’s taught to and practiced by professional basketball players. It’s taught to and used by the most elite teams in the military and all the way down to your basic trainee. Follow Through. Without it, you’re dead in the water.

Goal setting is part of this. Each of us has the big mile stones that we are hoping to hit; however, not many have broken those down into smaller micro-goals. These are the small steps that will add up to each mile. These are easier to take and handle because they are smaller parts. When you spend a week or two completing these small steps you will find that your mile stones are closer than you thought.

This is the essence of Follow Through. Obstacles, issues, problems and such will crop up every day. Sticking to your plan, following through with each phone call, email, letter, and emptying the garbage can by your desk are the ways in which you make this a moment by moment habit.

Completely following through is what is going to make your success happen. Steve Jobs knew this. “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard and you pour so much of your life into this thing, there are such rough moments in time that most people give up. And I don't blame them, it's really tough.”

This habit of Follow Through is where the perseverance comes from. By making this a daily and moment by moment habit, yours will stand the better chance of being the one left standing after the other 80% to 90% of the small businesses fall. Everything is meaningless without Follow Through.