Have you ever met someone (or you may already know them) and you’d love to talk to them about your business but you’re afraid to. Afraid because they look so together, so successful that you not sure you are “good enough” to work with them? I have a story for you.

My dog Buddy is wonderful. He’s 70 pounds with a huge broad chest and resembles a pit bull. He was a stray 12 years ago so we don’t really know what he is - other than all heart.

He’s a good boy but does have it out for the UPS truck. Not the driver, but the truck. It doesn’t happen often but recently he got out just as the truck came by and he was off chasing it.

Our driver is a great guy and knows Buddy. So he stopped the truck and threw open the slider door on the driver’s side and said, “Come on Bud, come up.”

I give my dog credit he did climb in the truck… but he was so nervous and had absolutely no idea of what to do now that he’d caught the truck — that he piddled all over himself and the truck.

Poor Bud, talk about a bad case of “oh dear I caught it, now what do I do?”

I’m telling you this story because I heard a chorus of voices during the TeleSummit tell me they would be afraid to sponsor one of our presenters Chris Barrow into their business. Chris was very clear that he would only want to work with someone who was a solid entrepreneur. He would want that person to be someone who knew what they wanted and had a good solid five year plan in place to go after it. A plan that would include a solid system that would help a new recruit launch their business.

Now why would many of you be afraid to sponsor Chris? Isn’t Chris just exactly what we’re looking for? Someone serious, real and ready to build a successful business?

Here is what we heard. Because they didn’t feel “good enough” to sponsor Chris. They didn’t know what to do with him if he said yes. They didn’t know where they were going well enough to help someone else get where they wanted to go. Nothing will stifle your business faster. My dog’s story actually tells it best…

You see, Buddy still barks at the UPS truck but I notice that he never, ever, gets close to that front driver’s door again. He still wants the truck but he’s not courageous enough to go after it for real. Bud makes all the right noises, even chases the truck but he always puts on the brakes and stops short of really going all out.

Why does he stop? Because Buddy knows that he does not know what to do with that truck if he does catch it. So he stops short of his success.

Do you stop short of your success?

When you call someone and the phone rings once, twice and then goes to voice mail are you secretly relieved?

If so there is no better time to think of “getting over you” and getting your next “Year In Gear”. It’s up to you - Don’t you think it’s time you took your foot off the brakes?

Here is what I do each year….

1. I sit down and determine what I want from my business in the coming year
2. I play with that plan until I understand what activity I want to do each day to make it come true
3. Tom and I take a look at what we want to personally accomplish next year
4. We plan our vacations first! (yes that’s plural)
5. I put some measurements in place to check my business progress throughout the year

When we are finished with this process my desire is driving my activity. In fact I’d say that the bottom line is I don’t work… I want to do all the activities that make up my plan – they bring value to my clients and to my family and to me.