Unfortunately many business owners are extremely disorganised and waste most of their time reacting to situations rather than being proactive. They lack time to focus on running their businesses effectively. You'll find they often blame the poor performance of their business due to the economy, the weather, their people and life in general, yet it is generally themselves that make or break their business.

Managing their time is an extremely important skill they need to learn, yet it is learning how to manage themselves which is the key ingredient.

I had a call from a prospect this week. This person has been in business for the past 5 years and employs a team of 5 people. The work is flooding in so he's in the office by 7.00 a.m.and doesn't get home until 8.00 p.m. each night. He admits that he can't sleep due to the stress, the problems he has with his team and he continually lets his clients down because he cannot deliver what he promises. He's also extremely overweight and in his forties so he's heading for a major health crisis. He wasn't concerned about his health however it was very clear to me that he needed to take action in this area. When he rang me his goal was to keep growing the business!

It was obvious what he needed to do from my perspective and after further discussion I outlined to him how through coaching he could turn his business and life around. He wholeheartedly agreed with me as his exact words to me were "That's exactly what I need to do. There's no way I can achieve this on my own". Then he said "I just need to discuss this with my wife". Well as soon as he said that I said to him "Do you generally ask your wife before making any business decisions?...and he said 'yes'.

I knew then that he wouldn't get coached...because what would happen is his wife who wasn't a business owner wouldn't understand that in business you need to invest and the biggest investment is in yourself. She would say he can work it out himself or that she knew what he should do....and guess what? That's exactly what happened.

Your business will grow as far as your own growth. Her husband had the technical know-how and by default had grown that business but he now needed different skills to take him to the next level. These skills he didn't possess. Through coaching we would address what he was already doing in his business and how to maximise what he already had. We'd address his time management and organisation skills, leadership, having a strong team, communication, health, current income and expenditure, goods and services offered, his target market,his finances, etc. All of these areas needed to be solid before looking at sales and marketing. If we didn't do that his business would fall apart and he would crumble both financially, physically and emotionally.

The point I'm making is that here was a 'businessperson' taking advice from someone who didn't have the solutions otherwise, why was this guy drowning in all areas of his life? The sad thing about it is here was this guy doesn't know how to organise himself so that he can have more time, more money and more life. In fact if he keeps going the way he is he may not even be alive in the not too distant future.

So all I'm saying to you is, you must invest in yourself first and also choose very carefully who you take advice from...even if you're married to them!

Have a great week!

Lorraine Pirihi is Australia's No. 1 Productivity Coach. She's also a dynamic presenter and a leading business and life coach. Her business The Office Organiser specialises in showing small business owners and managers, how to get organised at work so they can have a life! Lorraine is also a dynamic speaker and has produced many products including "How to Survive and Thrive at Work!"