The gun fires suddenly and now you’re off and running fast, amazingly it’s the perfect start! You come around the first turn and you have a three person lead. “This is it”

you think to yourself, all the training is finally going to pay off…. If you can just keep this momentum going and the race is yours to win. The excitement is overwhelming, you’re on a high…

Then suddenly something unexpected happens, wait a minute – what’s going on? You start to hear the footsteps slowing down behind you. The crowd’s cheers slowly turn to whispers and you don’t understand. You look ahead and realize that the unthinkable has happened. Somewhere, somehow, someone forgot to put up the finish line. How can this be? Now what?

Who can keep up this momentum with no goal in sight? You already know the people behind you are quitting. It’s just a matter of time before you quit as well right? RIGHT!

Remember this story the next time you set a goal for yourself or your business without a finish line. You and your team will most likely lose your momentum after a while. Its easy coming out of the gate with enthusiasm and excitement the hard part is maintaining it. Usually what keeps us going is the vision of accomplishing our goals.

By Definition:  Goal setting is the process of deciding what you want to accomplish and devising a plan to achieve the result you desire.

This goal setting definition emphasizes that goal setting is a two part process. For effective goal setting, you need to do more than just decide what you want to do; you also have to work at accomplishing whatever goal you have set for yourself with the end result in mind.

For many people, it’s the second part of the goal setting definition that’s problematic. They know what they want to do but have trouble creating a plan to get there. Goals without action plans are just words. If you are not setting goals with clear action plans for yourself and your company now I suggest you start today.

After you have defined your goals and decided on a plan to get there, remember to always walk in the direction of your goals. You can’t get to California if you’re facing towards New York and going in that direction. Every now and then review your goal list and action plan. When it comes time to making an important decision ask yourself, will this take me closer to my goal or further away?

From a study done at Yale University in 1953 in which the graduating class were asked if they had clear, written goals. 3% of the students said they had written goals, 13% had goals they had not written down and 84% had no clear goals.

At the class reunion 20 years later, further investigation is said to have discovered that the 3% with written goals were worth more than the other 97% put together!

Yah! I think I’m setting some goals.

You take a look back at your busy day and you stop to ponder and wonder “Can anyone do this job as good as me?” And by this job I mean; answering the phones, bookkeeping, scheduling, working in the field, sales, marketing, accounts payable, accounts receivable,  networking, training new hires, customer correspondence etc…. you get the idea!

I totally speak from experience when I answer in a clear, loud voice and without a shadow of a doubt: YES! Yes, someone surely can not only do your job, but I bet they’re more than likely able to do it better than you. I’m sorry to be so blunt and I apologize in advance for the inevitable bruise to the ego. But it’s true my friend, sad but true. Most people in business want to have full control and really struggle with bringing someone in to help or take over their main role.

What they fail to realize is that by trying to do it all, there is so much that doesn’t get done. Sometimes it is best to just delegate and focus on what you do best. Think about it for a minute… if you’re so busy wearing every hat in the office, how can you actually have the fair chance to really shine at the one or two things your best at.  

I remember the year clearly… it was back in 1998 when I realized I needed help and that I really couldn’t do it all on my own. I shouldn’t say I realized because it was actually my father’s suggestion. He called me one day at work while I was doing a job out on Sanibel Island cleaning some windows. There I was on a 32 foot ladder when my office phone rang… Ahhh, I know what you’re thinking his office phone?  Yes, as a matter a fact, my office phone was in my back pocket and all the calls came directly to me. Why? Because I was the only one qualified to answer the phone! On this particular day, this phone call happened to be my Dad asking me what I was doing. When I replied that I was washing windows, then doing estimates and then picking up some supplies… did I mention it was a Saturday? He replied “Wow! Maybe it’s time you start running your business and stop working in the business.”

For some reason this rang true, the old man had wisdom and was passing it on and I was ready to receive it! I don’t know if it was the sweat in my eyes, the callused hands or the fact that I was having this conversation from atop a 32 foot ladder, but from that day forward, I started focusing on hiring people to help me run my business. It wasn’t long before I noticed a change for the good and I’m happy to say I was amazed at how many of them were much better at the tasks I was performing.

So the thought of the day is: Don’t feel you have to wear all the hats, not only does it look funny but it actually may be holding you back from great success.

You know who you are… The “I CAN DO IT ALL” company that does just about everything! What we don’t realize is that we end up overwhelmed and overworked because we’re cutting corners.

We begin cross training every employee on staff to do each specialized service instead of really honing in on our individual gifts and abilities.

This was true for me at least. Working in the service industry it’s what I have not only witnessed in other companies, but have been guilty of myself. I don’t remember when I started adding on extra services simply because my customers asked for them. Yes, I could do a lot of the things they were asking for, but was I doing my best at them? The answer is NO!

Now, truth be told, like most companies faced with this same situation, we just hate to turn away the extra revenue. I’m not proud to admit it, but for me greed was the main reason.

With time and lots of reflection what I have come to understand that by doing this I failed my customer in the end. By adding on more services and trying to do it all I stopped giving my best and doing my best so I was no longer “The Best”. After a while I realized that by doing less, or what I was really good at, I was actually doing more and bringing in more long term business for my company. I learned the hard way that my customers that use to judge me solely on the service I was specialized in were now judging me by these extra services that I was adding on the fly to create a few extra bucks.

The problem was they were not totally impressed with the job. I wasn’t the best anymore…. so eventually they stopped calling. The painful fact was they didn’t stop calling me back for the extra services I offered, but they weren’t calling me for my initial specialized services either.

So my tip to you is the following: “Be Careful”. Don’t lose sight of your specialty service and what you’re great at. Don’t let go of the quality and value in your specialty service you offer by chasing a few extra bucks. Just think how great you would look by referring a specialized company to that extra job. Success comes our way not only in going for the money but rather in searching for ways to help others.