Fire your Accountant & Hire a Partner

Is your small business not growing? Think it’s the economy, think again!

Posted on 06 June 2010

If your business is not growing, it’s not because of poor economic conditions.  Many small businesses thrive in tough times!  The adjust, change, modify, rethink, try new things.  Tough economic times may seem like an environment that kills small business, not true, it’s the environment that shows your weaknesses.

When times are good and you are just busy keeping up with the business you have, there is no time for analysis, no reason for analysis for most small business.  Well then this is the perfect time for you to make those adjustments you though about years ago.

If you business is not growing, take a close look at these things:

1. Do you incorporate growth thinking into every aspect of your business?

2. Are you measuring, monitoring, comparing, or quantifying your results? Do you know how?

3. Do you have a strategic marketing plan with specific performance targets for growth?

4. Have you set appropriate, specific goals? (read this old post)

Learning is your key to growth!

Does this sound like the same old drum beat you have heard so many times before?  Ask yourself if this is the same song you have heard over and over, why aren’t you dancing to the beat?  Seriously, no plan, no growth, it’s as simple as that.

What do you have to do to be able to do these things?……. Ready?…….Learn.  Oops, there I said it, that 5 letter word “Learn”.  The word that keeps Entrepreneurs from growing.  Are you thinking, you can’t learn everything needed to do the above 4 steps? You are probably right.  So here is what you do to solve this problem:

1.  Call a meeting of your key employees/, ask them how they can implement growth thinking (delegation is a great tool).

2. Call your accountant and ask him/her to gather information about your results, believe it or not they have almost all of the information you need.  Take some time to read this post.

3. Hire a consultant to create a marketing plan for you. Insist they work directly with you during the process. Then when they are done you will have learned how to create a marketing plan.

4. Go and read a book about goal setting, there are sooooo many, read some old posts on this site.

Your business may depend on your acting on these items, hold on, not may, but does depend on your action.  It’s time to act, pick one item on the list, just one…. And do it!

On your team,

Mark