The key difference between big businesses and small businesses is that big businesses are driven by timely accountability. Big businesses have boards of directors/advisers to whom management needs to report.
If you want to maximize your results, you need to be accountable.
Most small-business owners started their businesses because they wanted independence. I get it. But, too much of any good thing can be unhealthy —including independence. On your own and all alone can be a recipe for disaster—or at least mediocrity. There are only three levels on the road to starting a business and maximizing wealth.
Level 1: Fear
Most business owners experienced some level of fear when they made the leap of faith to step out on their own.
Level 2: Comfort
Small-business owners experience this level once they are past the fear of failure and are feeling assured that everything is going to be OK. There’s enough money for the house payment, the car payment, children’s school payments, etc. Comfortable.
Comfort can be a great deceiver. The work small-business owners need to do to maximize their success and create wealth can be just a little harder and a little more uncomfortable than the daily routine of a comfortable business owner. It’s easy for business owners who are comfortable financially to “fool themselves” into thinking they are working hard, when in fact they are not working smart and not working on maximizing their success.
Level 3: Wealth
Most people can only achieve wealth by focusing on the right activities, and pushing past the comfortable activities and routine. This is where being accountable can be the key to success. We all need a pat on the back—or a kick in the butt—from time to time to keep us moving in the right direction. That’s the role of a board of directors/advisers—to help us stay focused on the right activities and to keep us moving in the right directions.
It’s true that we get out of others what we inspect, not what we expect. The same is true for us. To maximize our success, we must be accountable. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
If you do not have a board, if you don’t have timely accountability for yourself and your business, let me encourage you to find a few successful business friends and ask them to be your board of advisers. They will feel complimented and you will assuredly change the trajectory of your success.
Previously, in our “11 Keys to Success” series we discussed:
- Key 1: “Add Value”
- Key 2: “Find Passion”
- Key 3: “Be Extraordinary”
- Key 4: “Start Now”
- Key 5: “Find Great Mentors”
- Key 6: “Can’t Is a Four-letter Word”
Stay tuned next time for the eighth key to achieving great success in life and business.
