I hope it's not too late for one last Happy New Year greeting!  This one is quite different, however...it comes with much tough-love business coaching.  Here it goes.  The Growth Coach organization and this business coach in particular wishes you much health, happiness, prosperity, and fulfillment in 2010.  Doesn't that sound good?  Sure it does.  However, let's be honest, all my wishing doesn't mean squat if you don't think differently and act differently in 2010. 

As a business owner, your success and happiness are 100% up to you, nobody else.  As a business coach for nearly 20 years, I can promise you this... if you think the same ways and do the same things you did in 2009, you will get pretty much the same results in 2010.  Also, if you don't allow yourself to be held accountable, achievement of your business/personal goals will fall way short.  Is that what you really want in 2010? I think NOT.

If you want your 2010 to be much bigger, brighter, better, and different than 2009, then you must make some changes.  For your business and life to change for the better, YOU must change...otherwise, nothing will change.  That's The Growth Coach philosophy.  If you aren't careful, you will get the same old, same old results in 2010 as you did last year.  To avoid that, you must be willing to look to the past for lessons and in the mirror for a reality check.  Time to look back in order to move forward intelligently.  Don't throw away, ignore, dismiss or deny 2009 too quickly.  To have a better NEW YEAR, you must first take full ownership and responsibility for the results from LAST YEAR.

For a better 2010, you need to sit down, reflect, face reality, and do some planning.  In short, you need to take time and do some deep thinking.  What was good, bad and ugly about 2009?  Quiet and uninterrupted thinking is the best gift you can give yourself and your business in early 2010.  What were the new ideas and strategies you should have learned from 2009?  What were the valuable lessons from the global recession?

To help you, let me ask you a few business coaching questions.  What didn't work in your business in 2009?  What facets of your business were broken or performing poorly?  If someone were to think about buying your business today, what issues or conditions might worry them?  What problems did you fail to confront head on?  What tough decisions did you put off at a cost to your company?  What worked great in 2009 that you need to leverage and duplicate in 2010?  What is broken in your personal life that needs addressing?  If you could change one thing in your business and one thing in your personal life, what would they be?  The Growth Coach process helps you tackle such issues every quarter. 

As your virtual business coach, however, please do me a favor.  Do NOT make any New Year's Resolutions?  Why?  They are a waste of time.  Again, they are similar to making wishes...all fluff and no substance.  They simply don't work.  Without specific goals, action plans and most importantly, on-going accountability, not much in business and life (dreams, goals, desires, weight loss, smoking cessation, etc.) ever gets accomplished.  Bottom line, for your business to grow, YOU must grow!  An effective coaching and accountability process will allow that critical growth to occur in you and your business.  There are no short-cuts to great performance and results.

If you really want to escape the trial-and-error approach to running your business, make huge improvements in your performance, and put some enjoyment back into being an owner, do yourself a favor and get some business coaching and accountability help.  Only through on-going accountability will you achieve lasting changes in your mindsets, behavior, habits and results.  Take the first step and click here to take The Growth Coach 3-minute, confidential, business coaching assessment quiz.  I promise you it will be highly valuable and revealing.  

Again, best wishes from The Growth Coach for a great 2010...now go make the necessary changes to ensure that happens.

Daniel M. Murphy
President, Founder & Business Coach
The Growth Coach
Business Coaching Franchise System
Certified Business Coaches throughout North America