A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to prove a point at one of my seminars so I jumped onto Google and typed the words "Advice Business Growth" and was astonished at the number of results I got.

In 0.48 seconds, Google told me there were 330 Million (yes, you are reading correctly) page articles relating to business growth.

It only proved to me what I knew. There is a massive amount of information out there that can help you. Better still, most of it is free. I also get a few million emails every day from people I have never met or whose names I cannot pronounce, telling me they can grow my business – which is kind of strange considering I am an expert in business growth.

But when I look at the statistics, it does not make sense – most businesses will fail, collapse, shut down or simply disappear within 5 years of opening their doors. How can that be?

Follow Through

In my seminar, I gave a business plan template that was only a few pages long. I have an aversion for any business plan more than 5 pages because experience has taught me that anything over 6 pages usually results in so much boredom for the business owner that they would shoot themselves before they ever touched the final product – which is why most business plans are sitting on someone’s shelf gathering dust and are never seen again. You might as well have given it to the dog to read.

All the 20 or so attendees wanted an electronic copy and I agreed that if they emailed me, I would provide it. Two weeks later, only one person has contacted me to ask for the electronic copy. And that’s the problem. The others simply did not action it.

You see, many attendees on business growth seminars think they will learn something new (which does happen) but generally, they walk out none really the wiser as they already had most of the information. All my attendees knew they should have a business plan. The problem is they then don’t follow through and I am absolutely convinced if there was a mechanism to get people to follow through the statistics would be reversed.

Accountability

So what’s the mechanism you ask? Believe it or not, it is ACCOUNTABILITY. I get the most out of my clients because they know every month I will see them and ask them the most uncomfortable questions about their business and I will follow up on all the promises they made the previous month. They know that if sales are below what we projected, I will want a good explanation why -- so it motivates them to go out and somehow make the sales.

There’s more. I have been fortunate to have had some amazing mentors in my life. Then I moved to Australia and I had none. By then, I had a big ego so thought I did not need anyone to push me. After all, I am Australia’s Number 1 Business Growth Strategist – I know it all. Right? Not quite.

Don’t get me wrong. My business was growing and we were doing well, but it wasn’t like my pants were on fire. I had targets and goals but I was not accountable to anyone. So I decided to get someone. l call her "The Dragon."  Actually, she is quite sweet. And beautiful. But I digress. She comes into my office every two weeks and belts me around for a couple of hours. It not nice and it’s not comfortable but my god, it works. It’s like having a race between a push bike and an Aston Martin over 50 km. The push bike probably won’t make it, whereas the Aston will. And the journey is much more fun.

Dare to be Uncomfortable

But don’t stop going to the seminars – they always help to reinforce what you already know. Just get someone to push you along.

So how do you find the person to push you along? Well, check my blog next week and I will let you know. By the way, if you want an electronic copy of the business plan template, just send me a message. It’s free and I promise I will not put your email address on a list that will show you how to grow or enhance certain parts of your body.