Most small business owners know what needs to be done to grow a small business successfully. I believe that there are two parts to growing a business, strategy and execution. The execution part of growing a business is by far the most difficult.  Strategies and plans can be developed and, for the most part, can produce the desired results when fully implemented.

Most small businesses fail because the business plans they developed are not executed!

Two factors enter into the execution formula: commitment and accountability.

In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey identified the core principles that govern human behavior and effectiveness as responsibility, vision, integrity, understanding, collaboration and renewal.  The three principals of execution can be identified as focus, engagement and accountability. Let’s define each of these three principals:

• Focus: In order to fulfill this discipline, you must select your most important goal and give it your best effort. Business owners are genetically hardwired to do one thing at a time with excellence; the brain functions best when it is concentrating on one thing.
• Engagement: This requires the development of a scoreboard to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. It should be a simple design that tells you where you are at any one time and if you are on track to meet the timetable your goals required. Your scoreboard tells you if you are winning or losing the “business game”.
• Accountability: Means making a personal commitment to yourself to move forward in the implementation process and keeping the scoreboard always in your mind. I use the term personal commitment (personal accountability) because if you are not accountable to yourself, it is difficult to be accountable even if someone else is pushing you.

Want to remind you of the BizQuack Accountability Tracker. Be accountable to yourself and this tool every day. Success in 2017 is entirely up to you. We will support you with all the tools necessary for success, but you are the heart of your  business and your personal commitment is the key.