A recent Twitter entry I made sparked an idea for this Growth Coach Blog.  I mentioned that successful entrepreneurs take 100% responsibility for their results and won’t dare tolerate excuses from themselves or within their company.  Is that true for you and your business?  If not, here comes some tough-love business coaching.

Can you handle the truth?  OK, here it comes … your business is where it is, how it is, and what it is because of YOU.  As the owner, YOU are responsible for the business … all of it … the good, bad and ugly. As your virtual business coach, please own up to that fact and responsibility.  The day you take full responsibility for your results and fully own them, that’s the day your business will take off to new heights.

Please put your ego on hold and face reality.  This is not about being right or wrong … it’s about you being more effective and getting more out of your business and life. Once you acknowledge and accept reality (the truth about what is working and what is broken in your business and life), you are then standing on solid ground … not quicksand.  You can build, grow and progress on solid ground; you can only continue to sink and drown in quicksand. The choice is simple … truth today for a better tomorrow.  Ready to deal in the truth?  It will set you and your business free … free to grow and flourish.

Ready to step up and take full responsibility? Super!  Here are some typical Growth Coach questions.

• What’s not working in your business?
• What’s broken and needs to be fixed now?
• If you had to start your business over from scratch, what would you do differently?
• Who’s not pulling their weight in your business?
• If you could change 3 things about your business right now, what would they be?

Successful entrepreneurs not only accept responsibility, but they don’t tolerate excuses.  They create a no-excuses zone around their business. Why?  Because successful business owners and entrepreneurs know that excuses are those little lies we tell ourselves to feel better in the moment but that do absolutely nothing positive for us.

In fact, excuses do lots of damage.  Excuses are those little comforting lies struggling owners tell themselves to justify, rationalize, and explain away their poor results. Instead of taking responsibility and correcting course, they spend precious time and energy making excuses.  What a shame!  Be warned … excuses will keep you a prisoner to poor results.  Believing your own excuses will prevent you from making the necessary changes to pull yourself up and out of your problems.  As we say at The Growth Coach, “You can either spend time making money or spend time making excuses.  You can’t do both.  The choice is yours.”

Don’t fall prey to such common excuses as: our government is to blame; our industry is bad; the economy is awful; our competitors are better; we’ve always done it this way; change is too tough or risky; our customers don’t get it; there is nothing we can do; things will turn around on their own; we don’t have enough time or money to do that; etc.  Remember, if you blame others or conditions, you give your power to make changes away to someone or something else. That’s victim thinking and behavior.  Do not give your power away!

What excuses do you and your employees use on a regular basis?  Do you really believe them?  Do you know with certainty that these excuses are even true?  Have these excuses helped you in any way?  Be honest, do these excuses support or sabotage your success? No doubt, they sabotage you from being more successful.  Then isn’t it time to kill off these excuses?

Next time you or one of your employees verbalize such an excuse, stop and ask the questions:

• Are we certain this is true?
• What’s the REAL underlying problem?
• How are we responsible for it?
• What can we do about solving it now?

To have greater success in your business and satisfaction in your life, learn to take 100% responsibility for your results and don’t tolerate excuses, from your employees or yourself.  Retain your power to make course corrections.

Take our “face reality” challenge, a FREE online business coaching assessment to see the power that business coaching can have in driving success in your business and balance in your life.