Women, Spirit & Money: Business Stuck and Life’s Run Amuck? You May Need More Accountability and Consistent Action

 

By Sherri L. McLendon

 

You’ve invested money in coaching or consulting, and you’re trying to keep the clients and cash coming. For that to happen, you’ve got to get into action and implement all that you’re learning. What happens if you get stuck or stall?

 

Coaches and practitioners from a range of disciplines often bemoan the lack of good clients, and nine times out of ten, it’s not about the money. It’s about follow-through. Too often, their clients don’t have any.

 

Practitioners will sometimes claim that it’s impossible to promise their clients results, because there’s no guarantee she will take action and implement suggested changes. Worse yet, they say, if the client stalls out or fails as a result of this lack of commitment, then she might complain to others about the coach, program or offer. Due to a fear of bad publicity, a coach with this sort of self-talk may not call their clients on this shortcoming. Isn’t the client always right? By the end of the agreement in this type of relationship, parties are back to square one, with little to show for their efforts.

 

That’s why good coaches build accountability into their client relationships to avoid a low return on investment. Transformation requires change, and change requires committed action.

 

How do you know in advance if you have the commitment and mindset to get good results from working with a quality coach or consultant? Take this simple true-false quiz:

 

1. When you check in with your coach or mentor, you have more excuses than results to report. T/F

 

2. You ignore the commitments or assignments you agreed to complete, and instead focus on a ton of activities which keep you busy – but don’t create income or demonstrate commitment. T/F

 

3. There’s no conscious connection between your lack of focus or follow through, and your lack of growth personally or professionally. T/F

 

If you answered “true” to any of these three questions, chances are you’re the kind of client who won’t see any results from working with a coach or practitioner without serious accountability. And if you try to bootstrap your business without being highly accountable to yourself, you will likely end up with a very expensive hobby.

 

Whether you are an entrepreneur or female business owner, a coach or practitioner, or even a director or managing partner, setting up a system for accountability within your organization can only benefit your business, whether you employ one or 100.

 

Keep Yourself Accountable

 

Ultimately, each of us knows individuals are responsible for doing what they say they will do. When I give my word and for whatever reason am unable to follow through, it drags me down. My personal energy lags, and so does my business growth. A big part of being in alignment or integrity in my business is anchored in making and keeping my commitments.

 

Let’s say I make a commitment to take an action in my business. I set myself up for success by:

 

• Posting the commitment to my Mastermind Group on Facebook and opening it for discussion. This is great, because I get accountability and a wealth of knowledge and experience as I make decisions and take actions.

 

• Setting an end date to meet the commitment and put it on my desk calendar where I track deadlines

 

• Sending a personal accountability journal to my peer partner, who tracks all my progress, celebrations, challenges, and priorities – and calls me on my “stuff”

 

• Sketching a thinking map in my notebook to plan actions, predict challenges, and pre-identify alternate routes to meet my commitment if needed

 

• Writing in my notebook, examining why a setback occurred, and what I need to put into place to meet the commitment moving forward

 

• Taking the next action, because I know inaction is worse than any other outcome I could imagine

 

Make Yourself Actionable

 

The truth is that money loves accountability and fast action. Therefore, the goal is to make yourself and your business actionable at the start of every day, as moving directly from commitment to action takes more than a good intention.

 

First, you want to set your top three priorities. For me, numbers one and two are pretty much always the items on my list constituting the shortest path to bringing “magical” money in the door of my business. When the magical money arrives, I can put it to work energetically as a creative force for good. Number three is determined by either a pre-determined deadline or the creation of a resource needed to move my business forward.

 

Next, consider creating a checklist to start and end your day.

 

For me, maintaining a consistent ritual regarding the way I start and finish my day brings grace and ease to the task of accountability. These types of actions help me meet commitments and exceed expectations. When I let accountability slide, it makes a difference in the way I feel when working in my business as opposed to on my business. Systemic, consistent aligned actions are the touchstones on the pathway to personal and professional success.

 

---

 

Sherri L. McLendon, MA, OM is a conscious business coach, marketing public relations consultant, and writer living in Weaverville. She owns and operates Professional Moneta International, specializing in helping exceptional entrepreneurs and executives with a higher calling accelerate their money-making communication strategies and deepen their mindfulness practices in business so they can help more people, grow personally and professionally, and improve their sense of value and worth.