If I had to summarize the tools I’ve used to become successful and not all are financial, they are: (not in any order). Take this list, and identify the things that you believe could make you more successful. Disregard the others. Now make it actionable, and put a date by each one on when you want to get the extra training or learn more. Email for more detail on items on the list, I’m glad to help!

1. Always do EXACTLY what you say you will, to EVERYONE
2. Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you.
3. Surround yourself with people that can do what you don’t, won’t or shouldn’t do, or that can do it better than you.
4. Become an effective leader. Not a boss, a leader.
5. Have a mantra of constant development and improvement.
6. Be technologically savvy.
7. You simply must keep perfect credit.
8. Understand the financials and operating metrics.
9. Rely on peers and other professionals, including consultants, to help you, being judicious about the cost of course
10. Be willing to promote yourself, talk about your successes and mentor others, sharing.
11. Learn marketing and advertising.
12. Learn to think strategically.
13. There is no substitute for an extreme sense of urgency.
14. Be the 80 percent person.
15. Host weekly meetings with all key employees, with an agenda.
16. Learn to delegate; tolerate mediocrity and the value of five seconds.
17. Share with others, listen, be collaborative – you simply don’t know what you don’t know
18. Don’t be afraid to be a rebel – Push back, think out of the box, but be strategic and analytic about it.
19. There’s plenty of money. Be patient and prove you can plan and then

execute against a plan.

20. Don’t create a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist and don’t breathe your own exhaust (get enamored by your own ideas excluding others).
21. Watch and understand your competitors but don’t focus on them.
22. Positive energy – There is no other way to survive the grueling crawl to success.
23. Systems run like watches, people can let you down
24. Do hard stuff first and have a good work ethic and a strong sense of urgency.
25. Have “positive dissatisfaction” about everything.
26. If you make me look good and I make you look good, then we will both always look good. Apply it and teach it, demand it.

Understand how your world is going to change – Many successful people start businesses, but their skills were limited to what they did. Chefs cook great and they may even be great leaders in the kitchen. But it’s important to understand in a new role as owner that the employees are counting on you to run the restaurant. They know you can cook; it’s not enough. Can you hire and fire, deal with clients, do the marketing, bring the clients, handle the legal stuff and keep track of the money. Until you’ve learned those skills, you are going to be frustrated and your team will be frustrated and you won’t be an effective leader. Remember, they are counting on you to be the leader. It took you years to learn to cook, but you won’t have years to learn all the rest of the stuff!

Remember only you can make business great!

Ron Sturgeon, founder of Mr. Mission Possible small business consulting, combines over 35 years of entrepreneurship with an extensive resume in consulting, speaking, and business writing with 9 books in print. A business owner since age 17, Ron sold his chain of salvage yards to Ford Motor Company in 1999, and his innovations in database-driven direct marketing have been profiled in Inc. Magazine. After the repurchase of Greenleaf Auto Recyclers from Ford and sale to Schnitzer Industries, Ron is now a sought-after consultant and a successful real estate investor.

As a consultant, Ron shares his expertise in strategic planning, capitalization, compensation, growing market share, and more in his signature plain-spoken style, providing field-proven, and high-profit best practices well ahead of the business news curve.

Ron is a web expert, but he is also an expert in helping all types of small businesses become more successful and more profitable. He has helped owners in industries from restaurants to law firms with a wide variety of business issues, including sales, promotion, production, financial measures, business strategy, and planning for startups.

To inquire about pay for performance compensation plan consulting or keynote speaking, contact Ron by calling 817-834-3625, by emailing rons@MrMissionPossible.com, by mailing 5940 Eden, Haltom City, TX 76117, or online at Mr. Mission Possible.