Zane Safrit

Guest Post: Why is Accountability So Important?

What is accountability? Who holds you accountable? I recently asked those questions in several small business forums and got some pretty insightful answers. Many responses talked about the people (family, customers, business partners) in their lives that held them accountable. Others talked about the pressures of meeting revenue and profit targets to hold them accountable. Some said they held themselves accountable. I believe it is all of these things....and more. What was common among all of the answers is that as humans there are many actions and behaviors that are foreign to our individual natures. For me it is being confrontational. For others it is doing detailed work. It takes intentional effort and discipline for us to do these things.

That’s where accountability comes in. Accountability to ourselves or others can often provide the motivation needed to ensure we overcome our natural resistance. For instance we know we must exercise if we are to stay in shape, but we often allow other things to crowd it out of our daily lives. Accountability to those that depend on us often creates the necessary motivation to make it happen.

So how does this relate to growing a small business? I guess the obvious answer is there are many actions and behaviors related to growing a business that are foreign to entrepreneurs. Huh? I thought being an entrepreneur was all about growing a business? Yes and no. WE entrepreneurs do not like to let go, we do not like to delegate, we like to control and we often dislike structure because we fear it can limit our flexibility to seize future opportunities. These tendencies are all in direct conflict to the growth of small businesses.

Now lets take it one step further. As humans we often don’t see what others see. Others have the ability to see gradual changes that we are oblivious to. The example of the frog in the boiling water comes to mind. We clearly need others to help us here. To speed our progress. To take on the responsibility of holding us accountable.

This is one of the reasons we started PeerSight. To provide small business leaders with a hand picked group of peers that understand the behaviors and pressures of being an entrepreneur, to take on the responsibility of holding each other accountable, to take on the responsibility of challenging each other, and helping each other take on the tough stuff that often is foreign to our natures. To achieve success faster than we can achieve on our own.

Who holds you to account?

- Steve MacGill

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Steve is the co-founder of PeerSight. PeerSight is the pioneer in virtual Peer Advisory Boards. We provide the platform business advisors use to deliver virtual peer advisory boards to their clients.

The Myth of Startup Failure

Eric Shannon's penned some thoughts at the noise-to-signal blog (great blog) on How "Why Startups Fail" Fail or The Myth of Startup Failure. It's worth the read. Here's two points I loved:

2. The market outpaces the startup's ability to execute.

Things generally move pretty slowly. Consumers move even slower, and consumer loyalty is built through great experiences over time not through early availability. First mover or early advantage is overrated. Google was late to search, Flickr was late to photosharing, Facebook was late to social software....Take your time, build something valuable, and then go to market.

4. The market takes too long to develop.

If the market takes too long to develop, there is no market… it doesn’t exist.

Some more:

If the entrepreneur finds themselves in a situation they can’t control it’s almost certainly because they put themselves in that position —

“It’s not just how fast you run the race that matters. It’s how fast the race is run. When it comes to startups, speed wins.” That’s just ridiculous.

Thanks, Eric.

Walk the line

Tim Walker at Business Insight Zone asks What's the Straight Line:

What’s the straight line from here to there?
If you aren’t following it, what’s preventing you?

His blog post lists all the things we see, I've done, to avoid moving forward. The list and reasons are silly, really. I guarantee they're still being done, sometimes by me. I'm getting better at seeing the pattern develop. I can head it off more often now at the pass, so to speak.

Sometimes, it's from mental fatigue. UNC's b'ball coach Ol' Roy Williams had a great qoute about fatigue: Fatigue makes cowards of us all. ( Being a lifelong Duke fan doesn't keep me from tipping my hat to him on that one.)

Sometimes, it's not seeing that first step and where it will land.

Sometimes, it's fear of getting out of my comfort zone.

I do know that mapping the unknown into doable steps replaces the uncertainty of where I'm going with the certainty of the first steps I can take right now.

And then I'll see where I'm at.

Here are the resources I use to get back and walk the line:

* Notepad with me at all times. I carry a  notepad with me, even in the house, as I never know when/where I'll have a solution come to mind. I recommend the moleskine for it's simple functional design and its different sizes. It may sound pretentious. It's not. I've tried other notepads. And they don't last or work as well. Use what works for you.

* JOTT. Jott replaces the notepad when I'm in the car. I have it's number speed-dialed into my cell phone and (using hands-free calling) I call JOTT, dictate my to-do's and they're waiting for me at my computer. Then I can start immediately on the list.

* Basecamp. I've used the wiki Basecamp for 2 years now. I get more value out of it every month. It's simple, easy, cheap. Powerful. I use the to-do lists and  milestones now to prepare my week on Sunday. It includes email reminders and the dashboard features shows what's due and...what's overdue. And there I can turn to it anytime I lose focus or find myself distracted. I find the to-do list for the day's milestone. And start working it.

* Balance in Life. Walking away from a persistent problem generates the best results. The operative term is persistent. That requires me to persist in finding a solution. When no more paths to a solution can be walked, I walk away. Go to bed early, go for a walk, go for a run, eat..., hang with my family (though sometimes it drives my wife crazy  when she sees me looking at her but my attention is verrrry distant...). Inevitably, a solution will come when I relax and walk away from the problem at this point.

Neither individually, nor collectively, do these resources assure I reach my goals. They do raise the likelihood I'll reach them faster. And at the same time, they assure I'll fail faster, too. But regardless, I have a system that keeps me on track, on target and it's one where I gather my lessons learned along the way. And that means more success, fewer and shorter-lived failures.

And I can pay full attention to my wife and family. That's what it's all about.

20 things in 20 minutes = more success

It sounds like one of those ads. Flatter abs in 20 minutes...now becomes More productivity in just 20 minutes...!

On the other hand, starting one good habit or two, and investing in it 20 minutes each day will generate results. Here's a list from CIO of 20 Things You Can Do In 20 Minutes to be More Successful at Work. http://www.cio.com/article/185900/_Things_You_Can_Do_In_Minutes_to_Be_More_Successful_at_Work/4

The audience is IT-pros. Still, there's tips in it for everyone. Here's a few I liked:

1. CounterIntelligence 101.

Grab the annual 10-K reports that your top competitors have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and read the section called "Management's Discussion and Analysis.

We, my IT-guy extraordinaire and I, were just getting ready to start something similar in our weekly meetings. We were going to talk about finances and financials, the numbers. He wanted to participate more, understand more of how the financials tied into the IT-portion of the business. Why? He wanted to contribute more. The great thing was this desire to do more came from his side.

2. The Mini-Meeting.

If singles have figured out a way to condense that painful first date into eight minutes of intense communication, why not try the same thing with your IT meetings?  [love that...]

Sit down right now and reschedule all your internal IT meetings for just 20 minutes. If that's too radical, do it for the get-togethers happening this week.

'Nuff said.

5. Self-Knowledge is Power.

Twenty minutes is a perfect amount of time for some good, honest introspection.

16. What Users Want

Are you sure you're making the right IT investments? Here's a novel idea: Why not ask?

I love this one. Why not ask the people you serve is what you're doing is right for their needs?

The post is worth your time if you find just one thing to do for 20 minutes every day. The 4 I list here are a great start.

Link here: http://www.cio.com/article/185900/_Things_You_Can_Do_In_Minutes_to_Be_More_Successful_at_Work/4

Companies Fortunes: No victims, only volunteers.

Companies do not fall primarily because of what the world does to them or because of how the world changes around them; they fall first and foremost because of what they do to themselves. - Jim Collins interview in Fortune.

Just like in life: we're rarely victims. Usually, we're volunteers.

And small business has the greatest advantage to avoid volunteering for your own demise. That advantage is, should be, the closeness and connection within your own company between your staff, your customers, your partners, your community. That connection, that communication, and all it entails, should keep you volunteering for growth and success, not missteps and failure

Link from Verne Harnish, the Growth Guy.

7 Hardest Lessons for Startups

From Paul Graham, founder of Ycombinator.

Link from GrowThink.

5 tips to protect your rep online

Anita Campbell's post at OPENForum offers you a plan of action...When your business gets trashed online.  She describes how that can happen, what you as a business leader might experience and then ( I love solutions ) offers 5 tips on how to respond even on a limited budget.

Tip Number 5 is the foundation for your response:

Don't Lose Your Cool. You’re not the only business in this situation. Many consumers and prospects are savvy enough to realize that one complaint can be a fluke or spurred by questionable motives. They’re more likely to be impressed by a calm, even-handed response than by attacking back emotionally.

That's the key. A calm, even-handed response, makes it possible for you to be heard. It's the proverbial whisper in a crowd of screamers. Everyone leans forward, ultimately. The truth always comes out. But it's ultimately heard, and heard quicker, if it's delivered in a calm, even-handed response.

Anita also blogs at SmallBizTrends. She's an excellent resource for small businesses and the resources they need for success.

5 Ways Other Entrepreneurs Can Help

From The Digerati Life comes a very helpful post titled: 5 Clever Ways Other Entrepreneurs Can Help Your Business.

The 5 ways are:

Networking

Support and Advice

Resources

Referrals. (Did someone say referrals...)

Bartering.  Most startups are cash-poor and product/resource rich. Trade what you got to get what you need. One guy bartered his way from One Red Paper Clip to owning a home.

But The Digerati Life has some great commentary with each resource. Read their post; read their blog.

Link from Bootstrapper, also a great blog for small business.

Gary Harpst Interview

Gary Harpst was interviewed recently on Small Business Guru. Gary's the author of Six Disciplines for Excellence: Building Small Businesses that Learn, Lead and Last.

I'm a huge fan of Gary, Six Disciplines, their blog, Be Excellent, written by Skip Reardon. The book is outstanding. It weaves together theory, Gary's experiences (successes and not), and practical tools with a methodical approach to insure your small business continues to learn, lead and last.

Link from Six Disciplines.