I wrote The Grown-Up Business™ book for business owners just like you who've found that running their business just wasn’t fun anymore; a chore not a pleasure, stressful instead of fun, standing still treading water instead of growing income and profit.

How many times do you suddenly realise that the whole morning has gone and you don’t seem to have made the most of it? It’s too easy to waste such a precious resource and one that we can never get back. If you lose money you can try to re-coup it another way, but time lost, is gone for ever.

Now as I pen the final chapters of my book; The Grown-Up Business, I can once again reflect on what I've learnt.

In the early days of any business the general philosophy for business owners is ‘any customer is a good one’. But as time moves on not all of those clients are worthy of the title ‘good client’.

In one of my master classes we look at the value of your business and how you can maximise it. Nearly everybody is surprised to see ‘customer database’ almost at the top of this list. I find that so surprising as, in general, it's the first thing a liquidator looks to sell.

It's been a tough few years but hey, let’s celebrate that you're still in business, many aren't. But will you still be successfully trading at year end?

Do you only think about your business goals or consider your personal goals too? After all we should not be spending all of our time at work. As a business owner your personal goals always drive your business goals.

Numbers never seem as important as they do at this time of year. You might be frantically tracking and checking your numbers to make sure that you focus on the right things that are going to ensure that your hit your year-end target.

December has arrived. It’s less than 31 days until 2014, but are you ready?. Have you thought about what you want to happen next 365 days?
Its a good time to start thinking so here is just one question for you to answer for every day of Advent?