Small steps are
the way to get big

Does that shock you? It shouldn't, but don't feel bad. Unfortunately most small-business owners and entrepreneurs get fooled into believing that it takes big improvements to make it big.

Take a closer look at the lives of the most successful businesspeople in the world. You'll see how their current level of achievement is the result of a massive number of small, almost imperceptible actions and decisions made consistently over time, not one-time dramatic events.

Have you ever found yourself looking for some groundbreaking event to make a dramatic improvement in your business? I know that I've fallen prey to that thinking at times. It's the best way to get stuck in the status quo and to feel sorry for yourself. And, it's the surest way to fall behind your competition, too.

Running your business with this type of thinking is the sure way to live a life of "shoulds." "I know I should do 'x,' but 'y' hasn't happened yet." "I should do 'this,' but I can't without 'that.'"

You keep it up and pretty soon you end up with more excuses, delays and justifications for not reaching your goals than you can shake a stick at. Before you know it, you've got so many piles of "should" laying around that you can't walk through your office without getting it stuck to your shoes.

It doesn't involve really big improvements; it's practical for even the busiest business owner, and it's easier than you might think.

This powerful principle will revolutionize your approach to business growth. If you put this principle into practice, I guarantee it will transform your business and allow you to make what will end up being radical, yet lasting, improvements.

Instead of always trying to make something dramatic happen, concentrate your efforts on planning for, scheduling and taking action on one small improvement in each key area of your business every month.

If you strive for the business improvements you want in incremental "bite-size" pieces, you'll make remarkable gains in as little as 90 days. Best of all, once you've seen what you've achieved, it'll seem effortless. You can do this on your own, or really supercharge your business growth by involving your employee team.

Think about it. If you're not happy about something in your business, that's how it got that way to begin with, right? With small actions (or inactions), stacked one on top of another, day after day for years, intentionally or not, you are creating your own future.

In Part 2 of this article I'll show you a process you can use to make it easy for you to put small, incremental improvements into action.