We often face many difficulties on the road to building our businesses. Many of these are similar and what follows is an analysis many of the most common obstacles that stand in the way of we going from where we are now, to success.

1. Wanting to get it right all the time
This habit often immobilizes us from making a decision, starting a project or getting on with an activity. It’s also a perfect excuse for not getting things done and projects finished. If you are a great starter and a poor finisher, remember nobody gets it right or perfect all the time. Simply get the thing started and fine tune it along the way.

2. Refusing to let go of the past
The past is definitely not the guide to the future ― unless you make it so. Right now you have more skills, knowledge and experience than you did in the past. For this reason, using the past as a guide is no longer valid. It’s like driving a car by only looking at the rear view mirror. If you drive this way, an accident is not too far off.

3. No Accountability
Dr Nick Hall produced an audio book titled “I know what to do – So why don’t I do it? As business owners we are our own bosses. We are at the helm of our own ships and we chart our own course through the ocean. And yet so often we become the loose cannons on the decks of our own storm-tossed ships. If we are held accountable for our success by someone else, which a great coach will do ― our success will be much faster. Why else would great athletes and CEOs have coaches?

4. No detailed vision or planning
If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there? Or we are in such a hurry to get there that we forget to set our vision. The frightening part is without setting a vision we don’t know where “there” is? Imagine being the captain of a ship, on the move, without knowing where you are heading!

5. Not being focused
Not being focused happens when we don’t have a compelling vision and a plan. Our activities have no energy to propel us forward. These activities will fill our time up quickly and give us the illusion that we are progressing. A constant dose of inspiration and motivation can get us focused on the route to success.

6. Fear of Key Performance Indicators
Not setting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is like driving blind folded. Key performance indicators are course correctors. When we steer off course our KPIs will let us know and we can get back on track before massive damage is done. We tend to keep it all in our head and believe we know what is going on. Unfortunately we only see what we want to see. Set you KPIs. They are there to help and not to bruise your ego.

7. No Compelling USP
We may not have consciously chosen to be a “me too” operator. We may think that our product or service is the best. Unfortunately, we have not communicated it to the person who matters the most ― our prospect. Having a Unique Selling Point (USP) that is truly compelling alone can give us a massive competitive advantage.

8. No Testing and Measuring
When we chase instant success, testing and measuring seem to be unnecessary. Having a mind set of testing and measuring saves us huge sums of money. If we are constantly testing and measuring every part of our business very soon we will accelerate our growth, because you will only have strategies that are working.

9. Leverage (time and money)
For every sum of money or minute you spend ―you must demand the maximum results. So for every marketing amount spent, you must have strategies to bring in maximum return in sales and customers. Break every activity in your business in to its smallest component and see how you can improve them. Always look for exponential grow as opposed to linear growth. The key is to identify the key areas in our business, that you can influence in a small way, which will produce exponential results. For an example if you put on an exponential growth thinking hat, you will sack all the non-profitable, non-paying customers or clients. Spend that time attracting your ideal clients.

10. Lack of investment in self growth
Every organic being in this universe is constantly growing. If a tree isn’t growing it is dead. When we think we know it all and stop learning, the future is predictable. Every successful person I know has invested time and money (and plenty of it) in constantly bettering their skills and knowledge. Abraham Lincoln once said: “If you have eight hours to cut a tree, spend six hours sharpening the saw”.

11. Blame
Blame is an extension of not being accountable, as we choose to find others or other forces accountable for our actions. Blaming things that don’t turn out the way we hoped on external forces, the government, banks, economy, suppliers and non-payers turns us in to victims and gives the power we have over our lives away to others. The simple answer is to take ownership of how we respond to negative situations.

12. Excuses
This pitfall is also linked to not being accountable and to blame. Excuses also take the form of reasons why. Excuses seem to cushion us from the fact that we need to take responsibility. Taking responsibility gives us an awesome mind shift ― we take ownership of the consequences of our actions, which enables us to move through tough times with accurate vision.

13. Not knowing your break-even point
How can we maximise profits if we don’t know our yearly, quarterly, monthly or daily breakeven? To grow our sales and be ruthless with costs ― we must know our break-even points.

14. Relying on one income source
If we are depending on one, or a few, major customers, or only one or two sources for generating leads, we are setting ourselves up for a big shock in the future as we have made ourselves to vulnerable. It is essential to build up a mix of both small and large clients to spread the risk should we lose a major income source.

15. Poor understanding of marketing
We understand it as the activity that happens before we ‘sell’. Branding, logo’s, websites, brochures are mistakenly confused with direct response marketing. Direct response marketing is specifically designed to generate a lead or a customer. We spend a lot of money on branding, logo’s websites and brochures and wonder why we have not had any return. These are not designed for direct response marketing. Don’t be fooled by the terms ‘awareness campaign’ and ‘being in front of the customer’ etc.. as they don’t put money in your bank account .

16. Being hung up on your competition
Of course it’s important to know your competition and to differentiate yourself in the market place. However, constantly reacting to what the competition does is rather like playing tennis, but instead of watching the ball and playing the game you are constantly distracted by the scoreboard. When you know your business and have mastery of it, you will have your competition wondering what your next move is. Again, the best tennis players like successful business owners have a coach to reach their full potential.

17. Adapting rather than transcending
When obstacles come our way, most of us change by adapting and not by transcending. For example, when I put on weight I adapt by buying bigger sized clothes that fit me. I temporarily feel better, because I am comfortable in my new clothes. But the underlying problem has not changed. I am still over weight and unhealthy. If I choose to transcend, I work in an exercise and diet programme to get back on track. In business how do we adapt? When we are having a great time, we adapt to not learning. We get slack on credit control. We don’t follow up leads as we did before and we stop looking at our numbers regularly. When the times are bad, we overreact by cutting costs and we panic. We adapt to survival mode and then focus on negatives.

How do we transcend?

Always focus on your vision. Why does your business exist?

Your vision should help you transcend any obstacle in your way.