Get off your butt – do something important, today

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something.  It’s as simple as that.  A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now.  Not tomorrow.  Not next week.  But today.  The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”     – Nolan Bushnell

We all have a lot of ideas but few decide to do something – we wait… I’m not sure what we wait for… but we do wait…  and I fell into this trap last week.

While I definitely consider myself a ‘doer’, I found myself waiting for permission to lead in a topic that I am very passionate about.  Call it fate, but the above quote flashed across my screen and I realised I was waiting for something.  I’m not sure what I was waiting for or who I wanted to gain permission from to begin?  Was I waiting for that all-inspiring tap on the shoulder from someone who recognised my amazing contribution (if I do say so myself) and pull me aside and say (in a deep authoritative voice) ‘please lead, you are an amazing achiever and we all look to you for guidance’.

Yep – we all know that ain’t gunna happen!

Are you a company creator, an organisation opener, a fire starter or a movement maker BUT waiting for someone to tell you it’s ok to lead?  Could you become a leader before other people see you as one?

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for patience (even though it is not really one of my traits) but it is patience that is the curse for emerging leaders.  It can undermine our ideas, our potential and stop us from taking the lead.

The lesson for every aspiring leader…. you simply must begin.  Today.

So I did.

I believe in the power of the small business sector.  In Australia small businesses employed 4.8 million people in 2011.  In Western Australia there are 71,450 employing small businesses, equating to approx 47% of employing businesses.  This is refered to as the small business sector, and yet there is absolutely nothing small about it – we are a large voice – in fact we are a HUGE voting voice.

Yet because we are scattered across all industries and generally we have our head down and bum up working hard in our business – we rarely come together as a strong united voice.

Which is why I am making a stand TODAY for small business in Western Australia.

We have an opportunity.  An opportunity to create change in the lead up to the State election for small business – but to create this change we need to stand together, create momentum and show how large the small business sector really is.

I call on ALL that are employed by a small business, buy from a small business or manage/own a small business to join this facebook page to create the necessary change in the lead up to the State election.  For the small business sector (considered the pulse of our economy) to truly thrive we need change – and the message is simple.

As Chair of the Small Enterprise Network (SEN) through the CCI – our priorities for the next WA Government are:

1. Payroll Tax reform – the outdated threshold to be lifted, the tax cut and indexed

2. Address the labour shortage – upskilling and migration

3. Regulation reform priorities – Local Government regulation and compliance consistency

To join small business leaders and ambassadors for change, please like and be part of this campaign at:  http://www.facebook.com/LiftPayrollTaxThreshold

Make a stand today… don’t wait for permission – you already have it.