Consistency requires measurement. Discipline requires standards. Execution requires resources.

Too often, we focus on the end goal, the sale, the accolades, and the perfect product. Instead, we need to be focused on consistency and discipline. That means setting standards and measuring progress. It can be challenging, but we can reach our goals with careful execution.

Too often, business owners make their operations way more complicated than they need to be. So today, I’m thinking about three elementary premises that will help you create an economically and personally sustainable business.

Let’s start with consistency.

There are two things I know for sure. First, your customers want to see consistency in the product and service you provide. The second is your team members want consistency so they know what they should be doing for excellence.

The easiest way I know to do both is to have a dashboard that tells me if we’re delivering on our promise. When you make work visible, you see what you’re doing well. Then, you want to know how you can even amplify this further. But you also see where you’re falling short. This is where you want to see what it’ll take to fix or manage it.

Now it’s time to add a little discipline.

Your dashboard is only the first step. The second is to have standards you expect from your staff. For example, if you own a vending company, as I used to, some of our measures were how long it took us to repair a broken machine. Whether there was a repeat service call within 48 hours. Whether we ran out of popular items in our machines. You get the idea.

The measurement of these things was just the start. We next needed standards that we expected. Then we would compare the two to see if we were following through on our promises or if we needed adjustments made.

I have many silly sayings. One of them is “ that which gets measured gets done.” What are our standards? Without both, measuring is a waste of time.

Where are the resources going to come from for your business success?

My book, The Sustainable Business, discusses the four buckets of profit. One is a fully funded marketing program. First, you have enough money for your marketing efforts and sales. Second, you can fund new receivables and payables. Third, you can bring on extra people to deliver the service you promise. 

Some of that money will come from your profits and some from outside investors. If you think all operating capital will come from external sources, think again. A significant portion will have to come from profits you create from fulfilling your promises to customers.

I know you’ve thought about these three things at different times.

When I have conversations with people like you, I find that you’ve thought about this before. The challenge comes from having too many other things on your plate. You know you should take strategic actions that involve consistency, discipline, and execution, and you often never have time to get around to it.

The successful projects I see start with making the objective achievable. This means not trying to do everything at once. When you chunk down a project as large as this, you’ll find that it is possible, and you’ll be surprised how fast you get there as long as you want to try.

There’s a good chance you might not even know where to start.

I bet you’re probably thinking I should start with execution, meaning finding the resources that I need. That might be true when you’re first starting out. However, I don’t believe it’s true when you’ve been in business for years. By this time, you probably have at least some profit. That means you can pay your bills and pay your own salary. If you can’t do this, then you must start on resources.

The reason I want you to start with measurement and standards is without knowing what and why you want to do something, you can’t know how much money you need to raise and even what the avenues for doing so might be.

If you do these three things, here’s what you’ll get.

Let’s assume you have enough cash to keep your company afloat. If that’s true, here are three things you can do to start.

1. Create a dashboard that will show the key figures that drive success in your business.
2. Make the dashboard visible to those in your company. Remember my mantra, that which gets measured (publically) gets done.
3. Find an accountability partner that can keep you on track. It might be a peer-to-peer group. It might be a coach, a mentor, or even your significant other.

When you have good numbers and someone to hold your feet to the fire, you’ll be amazed at how fast progress is made. When you do the first two steps well, you might find the cash you need to fund your business easier to find as your profits grow.

This is one of the projects we work on in our group coaching program. If you want to learn more about this, click here and sign up for our free business briefing how you can create more cash and have more fun in your business.

Also, if you are curious about a decision process I use to figure out what to work on first, download our free infographic on the Stage 2 Decision Process.