My 3-year-old son has it over me, I’m a sucker. Every time he comes to me wanting a chocolate, a toy, a piece of fruit, his favourite television show, or anything (you name it!) he needs it.

“Daddy, I need it.”

If I put my foot down, he goes into a meltdown – the arms go up, the body goes limp and the tears start. For a bystander it’s either hilarious or noisy, probably depending on whether you’re also a parent or not. There’s a certain degree of commiseration between parents – an unspoken bond. Of course, the reality is he doesn’t need these things to get by. He doesn’t know what he needs, he’s too young and too inexperienced to know. That’s our job as parents. I specialise in knowing what he needs and keeping him going. I don’t like to brag, but so far, I’ve been successful 100% of the time.

Every child is different, naturally every child will tell you different needs, although chocolate will probably feature heavily, and they will change by the minute. But the parents, they know what’s going on.

“What impact are roadblocks having on your progress?”

This is my life, and on reflection recently I can draw parallels to business life too. Your business is your child, and you’ll be bombarded with people telling you what you need. These will be staff, business partners, family, customers, and probably more. Everyone has an opinion of what is needed but it’s not always valid. Sometimes you need to put your foot down as the parent and say “No, I know what is best for my business”.

When was the last time you sat down in a quiet place and had a good think about your business requirements? Do you know what your roadblocks are? What are the things that are holding your business back from being the most successful version possible? What impact are roadblocks having on your progress? Who is affected and does that translate to a cost, or a loss of income? Have you lost customers because there’s a process that’s broken?

It’s time to put your foot down, handle the tantrum, and get these barriers removed. Speak to a specialist consultant and start moving towards that most successful version of your business. Because resolving those roadblocks are your real needs (and then you can have the chocolate).