Getting Unstuck

Everyone, in any endeavor, gets stuck at some point. All of a sudden, or so it seems, things aren’t going right. Or even going anywhere. Writers get writer’s block. Athletes suffer from losing streaks.

Running a business is no different. What was working well yesterday isn’t working today. You try many things, but nothing works. You’re at a loss for how to get moving forward again.

The first thing you need to do (after admitting to yourself you’re stuck) is to pinpoint why. The reasons come in many different flavors. Scan the list below. Be honest, and check any that have you nodding your head “yes.”

1. You Treat Your Business like It’s a Job
2. You Think Your Latest Successful Windfall Will Last Forever
3. You Think Someone Is Coming to Save You
4. You Let Today’s Emergencies Dictate Your Plan
5. You Never Take a Break or a Vacation from Work
6. You Take Dangerous Risks Instead of Calculated Actions
7. You Think the Only Alternative to Success Is Failure
8. Your Customers Can’t Find You
9. Your Fear of Rejection Stops You from Selling
10. You Keep Calling People Who Don’t Respond
11. You Stop Marketing as Soon as Your Revenue Increases
12. You Are Always Selling Product Features
13. You Are Selling a Product that can be Purchased Cheaper Elsewhere
14. You Go On Social Media Sites without a Strategy
15. You Hate Your Customers (and Maybe Even Your Employees or Vendors)
16. You Only Hire Employees Who Are Weaker Than You
17. You Allow Lousy Employees (and Customers) to Overstay Their Welcome
18. You Hire for Skills, not Attitude
19. You Are Always Telling Employees What to Do Because You’re the Boss
20. You Think Customer Service Is a Cost Center
21. You Never Ask for Help
22. You Allow Personal Use of Smartphones on the Job
23. You Don’t Know How to Read Your Financial Statements
24. You Think Business Is About Growing Sales
25. Your Fixed Overhead Costs Are Too High

These are the 25 most common reasons we get stuck when it comes to operating our business, according to small business consultant Barry Moltz, and they are capitalized for a reason: they make up the 25 chapters in his new book, How To Get Unstuck.

How to Get Unstuck is a practical reference guide in which Moltz unwraps each of these sticking points, and delivers a no-nonsense, real-world look into the underlying cause(s) of your stuckedness, and then offers several tried-and-true action items to get you going again.

You may not be stuck just yet, but picking up How to Get Unstuck will help you stay that way.

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Matthew E. May is founder of EDIT Innovation and author most recently of The Laws of Subtraction: 6 Simple Rules for Winning in the Age of Excess Everything.