Hey there – and welcome to episode 123 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thanks for leading me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices out there and I appreciate you making me one of them.

I’m Jenn, the host, marketing thought leader and digital strategist and coach for small businesses.  And just an all-round small business lover with one goal in business – to make every small business I come across to make marketing a priority in their business – because if you want to grow, you need to market!

It’s that’s simple – not easy, but simple for sure.

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Noonan’s Showcase Jewellers in Cobram, Victoria.  Cath, the owners, with the pink hair – omgod you’ll love her – works alongside a master jeweller who can only custom make your special piece but can also take all that unworn jewellery, melt it down and make an unforgettable piece, which is designed by you, for you, with the help of Cath and her team.  Noonan’s has been part of the local landscape for 49 years and you can find them as Noonan’s Showcase Jewellers on Facebook, Instagram or at 91 Punt Road, Cobram.  PS – their Instagram feed, if you love jewellers, – Amazing – take a look!

Ok, so let’s get into today’s episode, but before we do, I need to address the elephant in the room.

I feel a little like you’ve read the headline to this podcast and thought “Geez, Jenn, you’ve always said that marketing is the number 1 thing you need in your business to succeed”.

And yep, fair point I do.  Without marketing, no one knows who you are, what you do or how or what they can buy from you.

But today’s episode isn’t so much about what your business needs to be successful – but what you need, as the business owner, to ensure that success.

And if you’ve ever been on a webinar or heard me speak from stage, it’s almost the last thing I tell you, ask you, leave with you.

And it was brought home to my attention, yet again when a client rang the other day to tell me they had hit their financial goal.

A financial goal they had been quietly working towards for a few years now and this week, they hit that goal.

They rang to celebrate with me and say thank you for my help in getting them there.

I knowledge that all the work was theirs, I’m just here to help them stay the course.

And it’s that – helping them stay the course, that they said made all the difference to them getting to this goal, they’d never got to before.

ACCOUNTABILITY

I have kept them accountable to the goals they set, the marketing strategies they have tested and measured and the things they said they would do, month in, month out, to help them reach their goals – not just this one, but all of them.

As small business owners, we can swan through the day, answerable to no one, doing what we do, making decisions on what we are going to work on today, next week, next month and for some, it’s all on their shoulders.

No one holds them accountable.

No one checks in on them to say, “Hey you said you would do an email about the new product you are offering this month, did you do it?”

No one asks them if they reached their goal this month and if not, why not and if so, what worked and what could them improve for an even better result next month.

Accountability is what we ALL need – even coaches need coaches to keep them accountable.

It’s so easy to work in your business and never on it and it’s even easier to do the easy stuff and leave the hard or “out of your comfort zone” stuff, putting up some weak excuse to yourself as to why you haven’t done it yet or aren’t going to do it at all.

But if you have an accountability buddy, someone who keeps you on the straight and narrow keeps you accountable and keeps you focussed on your goals, you could achieve a lot more or you could achieve what you want, even quicker.

So, who keeps you accountable?

Anyone?

Is it time for you to invest in a program or a coach to keep yourself accountable?

If you are feeling like you just can’t get going in 2021 or you can’t keep up the momentum in 2021 going forward, then this could 100% be the solution.

If you feel like you already get enough advice from employees, family members, your accountant etc – well that is exactly the reason why you need external help!

The lack of analysis of the goals you are setting and the things that you are doing is the weakness of so many small businesses.

There’s so much strength in being held accountable.

Having someone keep you accountable will push you, challenge you, help you – especially if that person is a few steps ahead of you or where you want to be or has the expertise you need to get to your goals.

I remember my first business mentor.  I joined a mastermind group in Melbourne, and we’d front up once a quarter.

The goals I set in that quarterly meeting, I 100% achieved.  There was NO way I was ever going to enter that room and declare I hadn’t done what I said I would.

I might have achieved some of them in the week before going to Melbourne, but by heck, I wasn’t going to see that look of disappointment of my not achieving in my mentor’s eyes.

Being held accountable in that room, helping me grow the massively successful business I did – that’s why it sold in 3 days I guess!

Yes, all the hard work was mine, but the accountability pushed me.

So, again, I’ll ask who keeps you accountable?

I have both a coach and business friends that do that for me very well.

They call me on my “bright shiny object chasing” expeditions that I go on, they call me on my weak excuses if I’m trying to use them, and they challenge me to think differently sometimes, in fact, in the exact times I need them too.

Thanks Jules and Michelle!

So, continue the success you are achieving right now, and remember success is subjective – everyone has a different idea of what success looks like – but to keep achieving it, creating space to be held accountable, getting yourself a mentor or business coach can offer you an eye-opening, incredibly helpful, cost effective alternative to being alone at the top as the business owner.

I know this is a short little episode, but I think the subject deserved its own show!

I know, personally, that I wouldn’t have achieved everything I have without people holding me to account and I know I won’t reach my goals for the future and enjoy more success without them challenging, pushing me and keeping me accountable in the future.

How can I help?

Well, you can book in for a Discovery call with me and I can see how I might be able to help you achieve your goals or you could join my Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners and every Monday comment your goals for the week and ask someone to keep you accountable! 

If you’d like to book a call – get in touch – send me a message on any of the social platforms or book a call at http://bit.ly/Discoverwithjenn

That’s it for episode 123 – I’ll be back for 124 next Thursday – look forward to chatting again then.

Have a fabulous week, whoever or whatever it brings.  Don’t forget to get social on social with me!

If you’re enjoying this podcast, which if you have listened to here – you hopefully are, don’t forget to subscribe, share this episode with another superstar business owner who’s doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and leave a rating or review to show how much you are loving this free weekly content and my fabulous guests!

See you next week

But whatever you do,

……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!

 

I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I record this podcast and conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.