Instructions

Please respond to the following questions by clicking on the appropriate button in the YES or NO column. Then refer to the scoring section for a generic interpretation of your score. REMEMBER, only you will see your score and no one will contact you unless you make a specific request, so feel free to honestly express your views on the issues. If you do not understand a question give it a NO.

No Yes

1. I have a Mission statement that describes what I want my business to BE for my customers and for me and my family.
2. I know why my customers buy my product or service and I stay connected with them in a disciplined, routine way to keep abreast of their changing needs and preferences.
3. I have niched my product or service in the marketplace and can articulate the pain my product or service relieves in a way gets an energetic response from customers in the market I have defined.
4. I have a written business plan that guides my decision making and is flexible enough to allow me to engage opportunities that I may not have considered or even thought of, when they show up.
5. In my daily activities I distinguish between working ON and working IN my business and I consciously balance the time I spend in these 2 domains.
6. I have designed and documented processes to handle the administrative, production or service delivery, and marketing aspects of my business and implement these processes with discipline either personally or through delegated ownership by staff or contract outsourcing.
7. I know the critical process measurements that determine my business success. I routinely monitor these measurements in a disciplined fashion, and I make interventions when the measurements deviate from the standards I've set.
8. My designated process owners understand these measurements, monitor them, and can make the appropriate interventions in response to deviations from standards.
9. When process measurements in any area are chronically below expectations, I or my designated process owners analyze the cause(s) of the undesirable performance and make process improvements.
10. I face problems and setbacks with realism and pragmatism, responding appropriately to what is really confronting me. I seldom overreact out of an inflated perception of threat or fail to act out of a wishful sense that the cause of the circumstance will correct itself.
11. I understand the criticality of cash flow and have measurements in place that give me and my staff early warning of cash flow problems and their cause.
12. My administrative, production, and marketing processes have designed responses to address cash flow dips that are proven to return my balance sheet to target levels.
13. I know my sales to cash cycle and have sufficient reserves and/or a line of credit to support my payables without creating a crisis.
14. My business has been cash positive every month for the last 36 months.
15. I hire people based upon their match with the requirements of the job rather than an over reliance on my hunches about them or their "likeability".
16. My business has very little personnel turnover. For the most part, people who leave do so on good terms and for opportunities that I either can't provide or that represent a change in career direction for them.
17. I have a staff of direct reports who were consciously chosen because they complemented me i.e. they have strengths in areas where I know I am weak.
18. I feel comfortable that I can go away on vacation for a month with no staff contact and have my business operate smoothly and profitably.
19. There is a plan in place for the disposition of my business when I choose to retire or in the event of my death.
20. I live a balanced life with ample time for my family, friends, and my personal interests.

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