Its hard to believe the year will be half over in just a few weeks. All the planning you did is either turning out great, coming along slowly but surely or hasnt really gotten off the ground because other issues keep getting in the way.

With so many things to distract you from your small business this time of year like outdoor activities, yard work, vacations and the kids being home from school, just to name a few the next 90 days often fly by and you find yourself further down the road and farther away from accomplishing your goals. The key to avoiding the Summertime Blues and running in place until September is to conduct a mid-year check-up.

Success Handler Action: With your team, spend some time discussing what youve accomplished so far this year. Focus on the positive things occurring in your small business. Celebrate your successes however small they are so everyone recognizes there are indeed good things happening. Here are some questions to help you get started:

~ What is the best thing youve done as a company this year?

~ Why are you better today than six months ago?

~ Which part of your business has improved the most this year?

~ What are some of the good comments youve heard from your customers?

~ How have you personally helped your team achieve their goals?

We get so busy trying to survive the daily onslaught of crises that its easy to forget to look at the big picture to step away from the grind and remember even minor progress is still progress. Its important to stay focused on continuous improvement, striving every day to become a little better. The Japanese call this management philosophy Kaizen making incremental progress one day at a time.

Success Handler Action: Review the goals you made at the beginning of the year. Take a candid look at what you set out to do and whether youre actually doing it. Gather your team and talk about the reasons youre not achieving the forward momentum you expected. Instead of dwelling on what isnt happening, choose five attainable goals from your list and create action plans for accomplishing them. Assign specific responsibilities and timelines for completing each item. To help everyone understand the importance of their role in making the second half of the year remarkable, follow these five steps:

1. Ask your team to repeat their responsibilities, and if they have questions about their parts.

2. Create a buddy system in which two employees work together to ensure accountability.

3. Post the action plans in a visible place where everyone sees them each day.

4. Encourage team members to look for opportunities to help each other reach their goals.

5. Cheer for small victories by blowing a whistle and recognizing deserving employees.

Rather than overwhelming everyone with yet another plan for changing the way you operate your small business, limit yourself to these five goals focusing on what each person needs to do to complete his/her pieces. Bring your team together each week for a brief 15-minute discussion in which every member provides an update on their progress. Encourage them to share roadblocks that are preventing them from moving forward, and work on solutions for overcoming delays.

It is important to take time to plan the direction of your small business. However, the only way to achieve your goals is to actively work the plan. Do this every day, and youll find there actually is a cure for the Summertime Blues.

Copyright 2004 by Success Handler, LLC. All rights reserved.

David Handler

The Coach, David Handler, is the founder of Success Handler, LLC, and specializes in helping franchisees, franchisors and business leaders find clarity and take action. He understands the challenges of running a business, because he?s been there ? as a franchisee, franchisor, business owner, corporate leader and trainer. Much like sports coaches, his coaching will show you how to compete on a level playing field in your industry.

There are two ?I?s? in accountability ? You and Me! Together we will achieve your destiny.?

David worked with ABC Sports, ESPN and regional sports programmers HSE (now Fox Sports Southwest) and Raycom. He produced more than 700 live events, including NFL football, NCAA football and basketball, and Major League Baseball. Career highlights were broadcasting Nolan Ryan's 5,000th career strikeout and two of the 15 perfect games in MLB history (Mike Witt-1984 and Kenny Rogers-1994). The second earned a national Telly Award for best sports production and was nominated for an ESPY.

In 1988, David awoke in the middle of the night from a dream and wrote down four words: "Notre Dame, football, travel." Partnering with two lifelong friends, David helped Anthony Travel become the Official Travel Service of the University of Notre Dame, Disney's Wide World of Sports? complex and several other universities. Over one five-year period, Anthony Travel was named one of the 100 fastest growing privately held companies in Dallas on three occasions.

After selling his interest in the travel company in 1998, David joined the International Center for Entrepreneurial Development (ICED) - a family of franchises with nine brands and more than 1,000 locations around the world. As senior VP in charge of marketing, he developed creative programs that franchisees used to gain new customers and increase profits.

David founded Success Handler to utilize the skills gained during his 23-year business career in a coaching capacity with franchisees, franchisors and business owners.