You may be aware of the quote by President Truman which is "The Buck Stops Here." As a business owner, the same applies to you - "The Buck Stops With You!" The problem for many business people is that they are often unprepared to accept the buck stops with them.

The three main reasons for this which include:

(i)   ramifications of the decision to be made;

(ii)  lack of experience in making such decisions;

(iii)  a feeling of loneliness, etc.

These reasons are understandable to a point. More importantly, they are all normal human reactions. Unfortunately, such reasons do not avoid the key issue and responsibility for you as the business owner.

As a business owner or manager, how do you to overcome the aforementioned reasons and step up to the plate to become a better operator? My suggestions are to review the following factors.

To start, you need to go back to your decision to open or start a business. As a part of that decision, you wanted to be in control. Along with control, comes the added responsibility of becoming accountable for the well-being and success of the business.

Secondly is to accept, not every decision will be the right one. The problem is not that you may be wrong occasionally. After all, nobody is perfect all the time. The main issue is to learn why you were wrong and to be positive on how to avoid repeating the same mistake again.

A business person who is focused on the negativity will see the mistake as purely as a mistake and may react further by beating themselves up over that decision. On the other hand, a positively oriented person, will take on board that the mistake is a learning opportunity to find out what went wrong and to operate a better business.

A business owner also needs to understand they are not alone. There are friends and mentors they can turn to and ask for assistance. There is the old saying which goes something like; "it is a weak person who is afraid to ask for help and it is the strong person who is not afraid to ask for help."

Of course, the business person should only refer to friends and mentors who they know will tell them the truth and in whom they trust. Nothing is gained by only to turning to "Yes people."

When you go in to business, we understand the freedom to be in control of your future is pretty exciting. Unfortunately, in business, there are also responsibilities which is less exciting. Accepting responsibilities is not always easy, however it is part of the deal of being in business.

If you would like help in understanding how to deal with the responsibilities of operating a business, contact Kim Radok at kim@creditmatters.com.au  Let us work together to resolve your issues for the betterment of you and your business.