All entrepreneurs experience a period of inconsistent and irregular financial performance. If you run or own a business, you’ll know exactly what it feels like.

One month, you’ll be on top of the world thinking “I’m rich!”. You’ll barely be able to resist the impulse to go out and eat at five-star restaurants, order leather furniture, cuban cigars and hire a full time clown… or is it just me who wants entertainment staff who juggle??

Next month, you’ll be on the bones of your ass, eating bread dipped in anything runnier than bread. Meals with two colors in will seem gourmet!

Ok, maybe I’m over exaggerating. It’s probably not that bad. And yet, all entrepreneurs experience a period of up and down financial performance.

So what is it inside our brains that makes this bull**** happen?

Why does your business have a profit statement that goes up and down like a yo-yo?

The answer is, because you’re an ass!

Don’t get offended – I don’t mean ass like “asshat”… I’m talking about this guy:

Yes, I’m calling you a donkey!

(By the way, including a cute animal pic auto-magically means this article will get 10,000 page views… right?)

Motivation is what makes entrepreneurs get off the couch and make dollars. As humans, we’re pretty similar to donkeys when it comes to motivation.

We’re driven and fired up by both the carrot and the stick. For entrepreneurs, the carrot is always “wealth, freedom & happiness” and the stick is “poverty and failure”.

We’re motivated to take action to avoid poverty, plus we’re driven to gain wealth. Towards what we want – away from what we don’t want. There’s a balance to our motivation… or is there?

Successful entrepreneurs have a slightly (but all important) psychological point-of-difference to all the wannabes.

The mega-stars of business focus on more carrot and forget about the stick.

The people who get stuck in a never ending cycle of “I’m rich… aaaand now I’m poor again” are the ones who are primarily driven by the stick.

Their financial performance looks like this:

Whenever income crosses over that comfort line of “enough”, it quickly dips back down again. Time and time again.

Why? Because this is the graph of someone who is only motivated by the stick. Once they’ve run further enough, they forget about it!

They may tell themselves they want the big success of a truly successful entrepreneur… but the reality? Once all the bills are paid and they have enough for a six-pack, they virtually check out. No more motivation – back to the couch!

To create an income graph with a smooth curve, upwards to 6 and 7 digits, an entrepreneur must be driven by the big carrot in the sky. Plus, they must never fear the stick.

Once you avoid the stick (not having “enough”), it’s easy to get complacent.

Having a clear vision of the huge, long term carrot…. that’s what makes the difference.

Escape the cycle! Chase the carrot!

What do you think? Have you ever caught yourself fleeing the stick like an ass? I know I’ve been there…

Regular readers of my blog will be familiar with my habit of over-the-top headlines.

Fear not! This article really does deliver. Earlier in the week I published a summary of a leadership strategy I presented at my client’s bootcamp conference (hosted miles from anywhere, in the mountains).

Today’s article reveals the formula for business success that the company as a whole is adopting – including some startling insights for entrepreneurs and business owners of all kinds.

To set the scene:

Store Managers from a large retail chain traveled to an isolated camp at the foot of some seriously rugged mountains. Picture scrubby bush, gravel roads and drinking water piped fresh from icy mountain streams.

In true bootcamp style, the participants would spend time mastering high-ropes courses, raft building exercises and intensive orienteering… all mixed in with lectures on business related stuff from leadership (me) to business critical tutorials (like financials, loss prevention etc).

The critical point: Attitude

The week was designed to encourage one particular principal above all others. Specifically, these Store Managers needed to take ownership of their stores. Mental and practical ownership… in the same way an owner/operator would.

This ownership would force total accountability and a psychological commitment to “Results… not reasons” (which my ranting was designed to emphasise).

Results not reasons

This principal is borrowed from the psychological make-up of super successful entrepreneurs. It is a belief and a commitment, proven time and time again to be present in the “lizard brain” of the world’s top business leaders.

Explaining (and adopting) the principal highlights some confusing issues. The most obvious is the simple logical impossibility of the idea:

When an entrepreneur or store manager commits to “Results not reasons,” they are essentially expecting more from themselves than anyone could possibly ever expect.

The commitment means that every endeavour, no matter how difficult, will always produce a “result” which you will be totally responsible for.

Typically, when things go pear-shaped in business (and life) we justify our less-than-ideal performance with reasoning.

Classic “reasons” include…

“The economy is bad right now”

“The market wasn’t ready”

“My staff couldn’t get it together”

“I didn’t get the right kind of support from my boss/franchiser/government/investors”

These statements (and all others too numerous to list here) are used by under performing folks (we’ve all been there) to help them sleep at night… ultimately, by comfortably shifting the accountability and “ultimate cause” from themselves to others.

The really clever “reasons” blame intangible bogeymen (who never defend themselves) like “the economy”.

However…

What if we do adopt this impossible attitude/belief into our business practices?

First of all, the adoptee must instantly assume a total commitment to learning and flexibility. Because, if you now only ever produce “results”… all failures MUST be transformed into feedback.

… it becomes your responsibility to utilise any feedback, learn from it and follow up with a fresh, more successful strategy.

In other words, you must constantly seek out solutions and see ALL future problems as opportunities for change and learning only.

The only admission of liability possible is:

“I didn’t expect that, but I’ve learned something and now it won’t happen again”.

Is the gravity of this attitude starting to sink in? People who really “get” the principal really do expect more from themselves than anyone could possibly expect.

Where the magic lies…

The psychological study of the world’s most successful business leaders reveals that ALL the really huge tycoons share this over-blown sense of expectation.

Examples like Buffet, Trump, Branson and Gates (just some of my favourites) have all share the attitude of unreasonable expectation for results… and the implied responsibility and accountability that goes with it.

My clients are in the process of discovering what this attitude will do for the Store Managers of a huge retail network.

I’m curious to know how making the “Results not Reasons” commitment could affect the lives of the corporate executives and business owners who are reading this.

The challenge

(This will be much harder than you think)

For one entire week, commit to producing “Results not Reasons” in your job or business.

When a problem comes up, look for ways you can be responsible and accountable. Forget blame – but take on board the necessary learnings. Work out what you need to do differently in the future.

Do this and I guarantee your week will be one of the hardest and most worthwhile to date.

What do you think? Anyone want to share the reasons why they can’t do this? Speak up in the comment section… if you dare