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Ready to Initiate Change?

Guest post by: Kerri Salls

Article Overview: When you commit to change with a crystal clear and very specific list of what you want to see happen in the new year, make it your first business priority every single day. Keep plugging away no matter what – by getting over that hump – you'll have done the hard part. In comparison, the implementation of detailed changes in the business and your own management skills are easy.

Ready to Initiate Change?

What will you do now to boost your business in the coming year? Are you ready to initiate change? Change is scary. It requires taking a risk. It requires effort.

On cold, dark January days, it is so easy to snuggle down in your rut and just be comfortable where you are at. The season and the weather (at least here in New England) make us easy prey for low expectations if not negative expectations. As an employee somewhere, you might be able to survive that way – for a time. On the other hand, successful leaders know that to win they have to have high expectations, not just once a year but every day.

As the CEO of your solo business, you need to take a hard look at what worked well last year and what didn’t. Make a list. Acknowledge and reward everyone on your team for those things that worked well.

If you identify some things that went awry (maybe a marketing effort that bombed) or some things that never got done (like an operations manual for the team to rely on), can you take action now? If so, make a plan to do it. If you can’t do it over let it go.

Here are four keys to accomplishment to learn now and apply throughout the year:

1. Plan Purposefully
2. Prepare Painstakingly
3. Proceed Positively
4. Pursue Persistently

When you take the time to work all four keys, you will see that:

• Last year you settled for less than your potential (complacency?).
• Settling for less makes you dissatisfied or maybe even distressed.
• It’s insanity to want to keep doing the same things while expecting different results – so you will have to make some changes.
• Change is not comfortable or secure and often is very messy.
• The pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.
• Creating change is hard work, commits you to lots of responsibility, and creates opportunities

Effective leaders have a vision for the business they run and they support that vision with long-term strategic planning. What they create is driven by deep personal beliefs and experience.

Plan purposefully and prepare painstakingly for next year. Commit to making the changes you need in your business now. Don’t second guess the plan you lay out.

Proceed positively and pursue persistently. Leadership is about leading the team, setting the standard, blazing the trail. Tell them where you are going and how the whole team will get there. No one gets to question or disturb your resolve.

When you commit to change with a crystal clear and very specific list of what you want to see happen in the new year, make it your first business priority every single day. Keep plugging away no matter what – by getting over that hump – you'll have done the hard part. In comparison, the implementation of detailed changes in the business and your own management skills are easy.

Do you want to stay stuck where you are for another whole year? Or are you finally ready to initiate change?

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Article Tags: change, planning



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How can I best help you? - I'm looking forward to sharing my ideas and insights here about taking your business to the next level. Before I jump in, I'd love to find out what would be most helpful to you. So, I'd appreciate hearing your responses to: How can I best help you to take your business to the next level? What are you struggling with at the moment? What would you most like to learn? and I'll do my best in responding to you Ready, get set, go . . . Wendy
Re: Spellcheck? - [quote="TheAnonymousMan":2f894q6j]When discussing the majority of people I would definitely say that most people hit the "Change" or "Ignore" button without thinking too much about the correct spelling of a word. All bosses are concerned about is getting the report to the Directors meeting on time.[/quote:2f894q6j] That probably depends on what the "majority" are trying to accomplish. I have word set to alert me about misspellings and grammatical problems, so I fix most as I go. But I also add names etc to the dictionary because I get tired of seeing the red and green squiggles when I know the info is right. If you're only going to click "Change" or "Ignore" then why bother to take the time to use spell check????? Business people that I work for want the info compiled in a timely manner and they want it right - which is fine because that's the way I strive to do any project. Sending out a memo, letter, report etc with obvious spelling and grammatical mistakes makes the person and the company look bad as far as I'm concerned. Shri
Re: e-Commerce and e-Payment providers - Hi GT It is only fairly recently that people in South Africa have been able to get full use of Paypal as we were only able at one time to make payments but not receive them. Fortunately this has now changed. I have received money through Global X Change for one of the affiliate programs that I promote and have found them pretty good as the money is normally transferred directly into my bank account within 2-3 days and I have not had any problems with them. MichelleJ
Re: Make sure you're a corporation - [quote="Evan"]Here's another suggestion from my experience - make sure your company is set up as a corporation. If you're going for angel or VC financing, they will become equity owners in your business. For this to happen you need to have a corporation and a shareholder's agreement. I've seen a lot of deals fall apart because the business was not ready with their corporation. They were sole proprietorships and had not given any consideration to a shareholder's agreement. It makes you look like unprofessional and can seriously detract from your capital raising initiatives.[/quote] I agree that one major step in being "capital ready" is to create a separate entity. In the US that traditionally means forming a Coproration, although the LLC approach is becoming a viable option. However, just being a Corporation (or LLC) doesn't mean you are Capital Ready.
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals - [quote="Alan Mater":3kaa8sg4] Obama WILL make changes... but they're not the changes we as a country need or should look forward to.[/quote:3kaa8sg4] Sad but this is exactly how I feel about it. Change is coming - but unless I'm really wrong, it is not a change this country needs. Amazing how much a good speaker with a good speech writer can do. If you paid attention to the things he said "off script" - much of it is frightening. Chris


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