Four tips for holding yourself accountable as an entrepreneur

Anyone who has spent more than one day in business knows that managing your responsibilities effectively are sometimes the hardest part of stepping out on your own and creating a successful company and brand.

The problem is, more times than not, that the level in which you manage your responsibilities might be one of the main issues holding your company back from playing with the big boys.  How does an entrepreneur stay “on point” at all times, while still managing to run his or her business effectively – yet still maintaining low stress levels.

In the few years that I have been able to run my creative agency, 12.26 Studios, there are some habits and techniques that I have picked up; whether they were through my own mistakes or watching and learning from the mistakes of other entrepreneurs.

Here are four things I have learned:

1. Over-Communicate

Effective communication is far and away the most important trait of an accountable entrepreneur. My company actually grew directly off the backs of other entrepreneurs who fell off the face of the earth during client projects, or communicated too slow for the clients liking, thus causing them to become frustrated and seek a better option.

Communication sounds easy enough on the outset, until you actually start doing your job. How does one do a great job while still keeping the client updated on a regular basis?

Human beings in general have wild imaginations when they do not know what is going on, and hopefully your clients are human. Because we fear what we do not know, your clients might fear that you took their money and disappeared every few days that you are silent.

Something that helped me out was learning to schedule my communication. As entrepreneurs, we usually live and die by our calendars, which are usually filled with kickoff meetings, deadlines, and conference calls. We let anything else that is “in between” fall into place as it may. Try actually setting recurring calendar invites to yourself that remind you to update a client every so often on what is going on projectwise – even if it’s only one sentence. Believe me, your clients will appreciate the constant contact. A friend once told me that he would rather someone send him so many updates that he had to tell them to relax than none at all.

As a night owl, I prefer to send emails at night. I know that my clients are mostly 9-to-5ers, and it’s important for me to reach them on their level. Gmail add-ons, such as Boomerang, allow me to create many emails at one time and schedule them to go out at a later date. That way, my clients feel that we are up at 8:45 a.m. (before business hours!) updating them on their amazing project.

2. Own It

If you are an entrepreneur, you will make mistakes. No matter how great your idea is, something will go wrong at some point. Deadlines might be missed, the product or app might not work as advertised, or your event doesn’t turned out as planned. We are not above mistakes, but paying clients (even pro bono clients) want answers, and they want them now.

In the real world, we do mess up – even Apple has had some terrible product rollouts (Apple Maps anyone?).  You know what makes the consumer feel like a boss? Ownership.  Success leaves footprints. Major companies aren’t major because they never made mistakes. They became bigger because when they made mistakes, they owned up to them.

Remember, as an entrepreneur or employee of a startup, people are buying into you as much as they are your product or service.

3. Cut the Excuses!

This can be tricky. Previously I talked about owning your mistakes, but now I’m talking about not making excuses. Whats the difference?

Excuses are presenting the mistakes that you made, going into great detail about who messed up, and letting the client know that it will never happen again. When you own a mistake, you should present the problem along with a solution. Half-owning a mistake wrapped in excuses is pathetic. Don’t beat around the bush or sugarcoat the issue. Clearly identify the mistake and its implications.

I take a lot of what I learned in my sports days into the business world. Fair or not, the coach did not want to hear that you could not stop Lebron James because he is bigger, faster, and stronger athlete than you are. Clients are the same. If you are defeated by an issue, then why shouldn’t the client try the company down the street?

No matter how bad you are outmatched as an athlete, if you can explain to the coach how Lebron James is actually breaking down your defense, and how you and some of your teammates can stop him, the coach is going give you a shot to execute your strategy. It shows that even when your back is against the wall, you can come up with ways to make up for your deficiencies. No one is unbeatable, and as a coach, you want to run with players who can find ways to make up for the times they are outmatched.

4. Manage Expectations

I see this issue far too often. In order to land clients, we promise the world along with any galaxy that the client might want to add into the mix. How do we impress the client and land the deal while providing ourselves time to execute efficiently?

Instead of automatically telling the client what you think they want to hear, set realistic expectations by setting detailed explanations of your deliverables and explaining the process that goes into your offering. The details not only show that you know what you are talking about, but also show the client that you have a great solution mapped out for their success.

Managing expectations for pro bono work can be especially difficult. Pro bono work is usually done for friends or clients that you really want to impress when you are first starting out. But I have seen pro bono work go bad more often than not. In no way am I saying that you shouldn’t do pro bono work, but understand – like it or not – once you start the work, your client will treat the project like they have paid full price. They will expect real communication, deadlines, ownership, and everything that most people pay you for.

I always tell young entrepreneurs that I live by a code. “If you say you are going to do it, get it done. If it sucks, never do it again – but do what you promised, and do it right.” Deliver what you offered, because YOU are the one who offered it – maybe next time, you will have a better understanding of what you can offer for free, and what isn’t worth your time to try to manage.

Yaro Starak of Entrepreneurs Journey wrote that “Expectation management isn’t just about you avoiding damaging errors, it also represents a fantastic opportunity. The most successful products, blogs, and even businesses succeed because they exceed expectations in unexpected ways.”

He’s right. Under-promise and over-deliver. You will look like a superstar. And anything is better than doing the reverse of that statement.

Warren Buffet once said that “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

That shouldn’t cause fear, my friends; that should cause excitement. Sure, you can ruin your reputation, but you also have the chance to build an amazing reputation to the point where greatness is your business card and any mess up is considered an aberration.

This type of reputation isn’t given – it’s earned by holding yourself and your team accountable.  Let’s focus on what we can do to manage ourselves, and thus we will be able to manage others.

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