Excuses, excuses and one or two good rationalizations

All of us at one time or another have used dumb, illogical excuses and a juicy rationalization to avoid doing something we know we need to do.  How many of you have said “I’ll go on a diet next week” and have not only not started the diet but end up weighing more next week?

I’m sure you’ve done this in your business as well.  This is really just an excuse not to make a commitment.  If you want to grow your business, you must make a commitment to ask for referrals.  No amount of excuses and rationalization is going to make referrals magically appear.  You’ve got to get out in the community, write white papers, establish yourself as an expert, build a simple and usable web site that is client-centered, not advisor-centered.  If you’re a sole practitioner, you’ve got to commit to finding good outsource partners and load off as much as you can to them.  If you’re building your firm with staff,  you’ve got to make the commitment to hire the best staff, train them thoroughly, build a culture of creativity and trust and then let them run.

How many of you have a formal strategic plan?  Before you answer yes, does it include your personal goals as well as business goals?  Do you refer to it each time you make a decision that effects your business to make sure it is in alignment with your plan and the quality of life you are trying to build?

Now for those of you that said no, don’t kid yourself or try to rationalize it away.  You are flying blind and eventually, you will run into a wall (if you haven’t already) with no plan on how to get around it.  Make a commitment to get your plan in place no matter how busy you are now.  Stop and chart the path you will take to your dream firm and map out your vision for your quality of life so that each time you make an important decision, you can benchmark it to your plan and vision to make sure it keeps you on track.  If it doesn’t, either defer for now or drop it all together.

Please call me if I can help you chart your vision for your firm and for the quality of life you deserve!

Thanks!