Lots of people write about long-term business planning and with good reason. Long-term planning is very important for your business though it doesn't mean much when you're up to your neck in water and still trying to bail out the boat. Of course, that's how every small business owner spends a lot of his or her day. You don't need grandiose plans, you just need one thing you can do right away to make a real and immediate improvement in your business. Here's an idea:

The best way to make an immediate improvement in your business is to get rid of the worst thing in your business right now. No one knows what the worst thing in your business is, except you. It the thing that drives you nuts during the day. It gives you headaches and makes you leave the business to go buy some aspirin. It becomes the monster that keeps you awake at night. Whatever it is, get rid of it now.

My business came with a little lapel badge and nameplate engraving business attached as a sideline. It was a nice little business segment and profitable, although it never really grew very much. As other segments of my business grew, it became a real nuisance. The badge business wasn't big enough to assign a production employee to it full time. One of my employees would be pulled off other work to make badges and nameplates when orders came in. One day, when we were trying to get out a very big production order making point-of purchase displays for Hewlett-Packard, someone from the Ladies Bowling League was screaming at me because her $4 name tag wasn't finished. H-P gives me a $35,000 order and five weeks to produce it; the Bowling League lady gives me a $4 order and gives me one day to produce it. What's wrong with this picture!?! Nameplates and badges had now become the worst thing in my business. We sold off the engraving business to a local trophy shop and focused on our primary business, plastic displays. It was a great sense of relief. The Bowling League Ladies now had a good supplier who was geared up to deliver their orders in one day and, most importantly, I had gotten rid of the worst thing in my business.

For some companies, the worst thing in the business is a particular customer or client. Customers exist who are unreasonable, petty, mean-spirited, slow payers and abusive. You probably have a few. You've never gotten rid of them because you've read all those inspirational, well-meaning business books that tell you to never, never walk away from a potential sale. You get mad at your staff when they're downtrodden and grumpy after dealing with this bozo customer and you worry that your staff may telegraph their suppressed rage to the next customer or prospect they encounter. Stop worrying by getting rid of your worst customer right now!

Sometimes, the worst thing in your business has a name. Like Fred, Julie, Murray, or Amy. Why is it we're so decisive about defects in products or merchandise but wishy-washy about defective employees? If you've got an employee who is not doing what you want, act now. Set performance goals and a short timetable. If they don't come up to par, replace them. If they're truly a bad employee, get rid of them now. They're poisoning your business, your customers and your other employees - and they're still doing it at this very moment while you're reading this. Take action right away. Your customers and other employees will probably applaud you for it.

For one of my clients, the worst thing in their business had a name - Harold. He was their inside accountant. The founders of this property management company hired Harold because they were, like many entrepreneurs, a little disorganized and felt Harold would bring some order to their small company. Harold arrived and began organizing everything. He installed new and complicated computer programs to replace the old, simpler ones. He produced voluminous reports on financial aspects of the company. He drew up organization charts and wrote job descriptions for all employees. He held daily staff meetings for the eight employees of the company. One partner remarked, "We have more meetings than General Motors." The partners complained to Harold their profits were down because their staff expenses were up. Harold testily replied, "That's not my problem. See, it's not even in my job description." Harold was soon rewriting his job description at another place of employment. After getting rid of him, the two owners dismantled the bureaucracy and increased profits. They had gotten rid of the worst thing in their business and lived happily ever after.

The key to success in business is to stay focused on opportunities. It's hard to think about opportunities when you're spending all day dealing with problems. Start getting rid of your problems so you'll have more time for opportunities.