On a recent walk I noticed that one of our local bakeries had closed down. There was a sign in the window saying that due to the passing of the owner, the shop was closed until further notice.

I had seen the owner a few times…he seemed to always be working and his physical condition looked awful. Unfortunately it was only a matter of time before something happened to him…and it did.

Some time ago I facilitated a VIP Planning Day for a small accounting practice. During the course of the day we reviewed the progress they had made since Planning Day we had the year before.

As we were reflecting on their achievements before planning the future, one of the partners made the comment on how crucial their weekly meetings were. Originally when I first suggested they have regular weekly meetings, the same partner thought it was a waste of time as he was focussed on how much time it cost to have everyone stop work for that hour.

Do you ever feel it’s just too hard being in your own business? Are you sick of dealing with people problems? Do you worry about paying the bills?

Do you hope that new prospect will finally become a client? Do you wake up in the middle of the night stressing that the money you’ve invested in that special project may not work and you’ll be in more debt than ever? Are you concerned that nothing you do seems to be working or not working well enough to give you the results you want?

There are many business owners that no matter how hard they work, they just can’t get enough of the important tasks done. Is your ‘to-do’ list so long that it makes it near impossible to ever finish it?

Do you feel frustrated and totally overwhelmed because you know it is a never-ending battle that you’ll always struggle to overcome? By changing the way you do things, you can accelerate your results and achieve your bigger goals.

Do you ever experience undue financial stress because some of your clients are ’slow payers?’ Before working with me, one of my clients who has a pool building business, only asked for a 10% deposit at the start of the project and then invoiced the balance at the end of it.

The process of building a pool takes weeks! In the meantime her company would have to cover wages, equipment and all other costs throughout this time. What often happened at the end, the clients were slow to pay causing them even more financial stress.