The best thing about running your own business is that there is no one to tell you what to do.

BUT ... the worst thing about running your own business is that there is no one to tell you what to do!

Never were truer words spoken to me and my huge thanks to my dear friend Keith Thomas who enlightened me back in 1988 when I was struggling in the 'early days'. It's intensely empowering when you finally understand that the only accountability that you have as your own boss ... is to YOU!

Or, in other words, you really need to WANT this if you are going to succeed because - I've got news for you here - no other b***er gives a damn but you.

In order to achieve your goals you need to turn vague ideas and notions into 'targets'. Something tangible you can aim for. Most of us are pretty familiar with the 'I'm gonna build a £1million business' kind of a target but we are generally less comfortable with the 'by when' factor. The TIME target in other words.

Committing to time targets is critical; a vision without a deadline is simply a dream but add in a deadline and suddenly you have a tangible goal.

But, of course, an equally critical factor is keeping to your commitments. I'm guessing that when you say to a client or customer that you will do X by Y that you are pretty committed to doing it. But do you show as much integrity to your commitments to YOU?

My experience of business owners is that, in the commitment hierarchy, they slot themselves somewhere between 'bottom of the heap' and 'seriously not important' on the 'to do' list. Now, I'm not telling you that your priorities are wrong - that really is a matter for you to decide - but I am telling you that seriously successful people have a habit of placing their own needs pretty high on the priority list. Growing their business is paramount and is deserving of their time and energy.

So, as in all things, the choice is yours. But if you do want to grow your business you need to make yourself accountable - clear goals with time and financial targets - with absolute time integrity.  So that when you say you'll have the new website written by Y date, you mean it - black and white, absolute, no grey areas.

After all no other b***er is going to do it for you.

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