Step 1. Accountability - Get a grip on Results

Get a grip on results by having each member clearly articulate end results rather than just activities. We use an Accountability Agreement to accomplish this (see www.AlignOnline.com). An Accountability Agreement defines business outcomes an individual is promising to deliver, and outlines resources and support that he or she needs from others in order to deliver these results. An Accountability Agreement is broken down into seven areas:

Business Focus Statement - Understand your company and your role within it.

No employee should sit on sidelines as a casual observer of an organization's success. This area focuses on business of company and unique value each member brings to organization. In short, why does job exist and what do you bring to table? This is then related to role each person plays in execution of strategic plan.

Operational Accountabilities - Outline end results you are accountable for achieving.

The strategic plan serves as a template to outline who is accountable for bringing about various end results of strategic plan. Focusing Accountability for various parts of strategic plan that individual can significantly influence and achieve is key to clearly articulating who is accountable for producing specific end-results.

Leadership Accountabilities - Set tone and culture.

Integrating leadership style into your strategic plan sets a tone throughout organization. Leaders successfully execute plan by focusing on people side of their role and how they expect people to work together. Leadership accountabilities set tone for leadership style, and introduces notion that "leaders model way".

Goals- Your road markers.

Goals are specific milestones that are derived directly from your accountabilities. Goals can be described as SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Based.

Support Requirements- Identify support and resources you need.

A: I'm full of advice, Steven, and it's totally free. Just remember, you get what you pay for and I can't be held legally or morally responsible if my advice somehow lands you behind counter at McDonalds. I'm not Dr. Phil, for petesake. I'm shorter and have more hair and less money.

Seriously, first thing you need to do is take a few deep breaths and take comfort in fact that you are not first entrepreneur to feel weight of business world on your shoulders. Every business person, including yours truly, has felt way you do at one time or another. For some, it's a feeling that occurs daily, especially when things aren't going as well as we'd like them to. And don't think stress will magically disappear if your business takes off. I know people who run multimillion dollar corporations and they will tell you that stress level goes up in proportion to size of business. These same people will also tell you they love what they do and would never consider doing anything else.

The difference between these entrepreneurs and you, Steven, is that they have been in business longer and have learned to not only handle stress, but to take stress and transform it into a driving force. They feed off stress. It fuels their creativity and innovation. Stress challenges them, it makes them think, makes them better entrepreneurs.

I think real question isn't whether or not you have what it takes to run a business. The real question is do you have what it takes to handle stress of running a business. These are two very different questions and answers depend totally on you.

Even on best of days running a business can be incredibly stressful, not to mention overwhelming and exhausting. It's only natural that there will be times when you wonder if it's really worth it. Asking yourself "should I just get a real job" question simply means that your human side is showing. And as a human you have a limited tolerance for things you can not control. And that's really where stress of being an entrepreneur comes from. We worry about things we can't control. Things like finding new customers, paying bills, making payroll, and a thousand other things. Sure, we can put forth our best efforts to make these things turn out in our favor, but we really can't control outcome.

So we worry. And worry breeds stress and stress breeds doubt and doubt breeds feeling that an 800 pound gorilla is using your chest for a lawn chair. It's only natural that you being to wonder, "Is this what I really want to do? Do I have what it takes to run my own business?"

I remember once complaining about stress of running my business to an elder entrepreneur. He waved at me like he was swatting a fly and said, "Son, if it was easy, everybody would do it. Now suck it up and move on."

Suck it up and move on… probably best business advice I've ever gotten. No fortune cookie was ever so on money.