We have many people who email us for help with their business direction and focus. We sometimes do the same. It’s good to have someone who you can write to and ask questions, get answers or bounce ideas around together.
We’ve noticed from mentoring requests that most people have one common problem: They don’t know where they’re going with their business. They have a business and they’re trying various strategies, but what next? What’s it all for?
They feel very scattered without real focus.
There are a few points to consider that help set down the milestones on a straight line to the ultimate goal:
Know What You Want
It’s intriguing that many people don’t know what they really want. They have an idea of what they’d like right now, but they don’t know what they want from life. They’re floating in a vacuum.
Sit down and think about what you’d like your life to be like in five years, ten years or even more. Know intimately and specifically what you want to have and who you want to be at that point.
Know Where You Are Now
Take a look at where you are today. Before you head off to where you’re going, you need to know where you are right now.
What do you love doing? What do you hate? How are your financials and family balance? How much free time do you have, and is that satisfactory? What’s your daily routine like – anything you’d want to change? What’s working for you right now? What isn’t?
Know Where You Want to Go
To know what you need to do now, you have to know where you want to go. The future is a destination. You will reach it, so what’s it going to be like when you get there?
I’m not one to say that the fun is in the journey – I believe that the journey is just a means to the end. There is where I really want to be, not driving along in the hopes of getting there.
Know What You Want to Do
When you look at that portrait of you in the future, what are you doing? Where are you? What’s your daily routine?
Are you dressed in a suit in an office somewhere, managing all your entrepreneurial ventures? Are you sitting in a log cabin in the woods that you bought with your own money, removed from the world while you create art? Are you on the beach sipping margaritas while your businesses work for you?
Know What You’ll Need
When you look at your future, can you determine what sort of income you’ll need to maintain that lifestyle? How much will it cost? How much will you need to bring in?
Think realistically, too. We all want to be millionaires, no doubt. Some of us will make it (hopefully). A more realistic vision of financial future is a safer bet. Shoot for the moon, but try to keep your feet grounded on earth, too.
Know How to Get There
When you know where you are, where you’re going, why you’re going there and what you’ll need to reach that point, you can start looking at how to get there with the least amount of effort and with a solid plan.
Focus your attention on the steps that bring you towards your business vision. If they don’t advance your journey, ignore them. Try not to get distracted by fads and crazes that soak up your time.
It’s not about right here, right now – it’s about what’s right for you.
