Businesses who set goals and plan make less mistakes, grow faster and are more successful than those that don’t. This equates to having the right ingredients for your recipe when cooking. A starting point is knowing your numbers. Do you know your costs and expenses? Your margin per product or solution? Analysing and understanding this will help you understand the ingredients for success. Next, prepare your recipe. Create strategies around your financial targets and business goals for the next quarter and year, and work towards these on a regular basis. Consider turnover, profit, percentage increases on last year, staffing requirements, margins, sales plans and marketing budgets. At the same time, you need to create your strategy, behaviours, attitudes and tasks, both for you and your team, ensuring the ingredients are perfectly blended. Now it’s time to cook! Implementing your plan is straightforward if you are focused – concentrate on the targets, track your numbers and adjust accordingly, managing issues and variances as you go. Don’t forget to delegate to your team, make them accountable and an integral part of the process. As you would keep an eye on the hob or check the oven whilst cooking, ensure checks and reviews are conducted on a regular basis. Weekly, monthly and quarterly are sensible time frames. Follow this process and create the perfect recipe for success you and your business deserve. In time enjoy your just desserts of an efficient, thriving, more profitable business. Accountability is one of the greatest benefits of working with a Business Coach, it drives you and keeps you focused. Remember, it’s difficult to get a truly objective answer from yourself about your business, but your Business Coach will always tell you the truth, even if you don’t want to hear it. So if your business is running you rather than you running your business or you are spending more time working ‘in’ your business than working ‘on’ it, then I can help.