Every business owner and entrepreneur I’ve ever met has three questions on their mind:
- Am I on the right path?
- Am I doing the right things
- Do I add enough value to people’s lives?
So, let’s talk about some things you can do to get—and keep—yourself on a track that will allow your company to make a real difference in the world. The difference you were born to make.
How?
By determining your business’s purpose and then creating a vision to fulfill that purpose.
Now, I know what you may be thinking…
“I don’t have time for that now,
I need to go make sales.”
I know there’s a never-ending list of things to do when you’re running a business and that no business can succeed without sales.
But, let me tell you something…
Your sales will dry up relatively quickly if your products or services don’t stand out or if your customer doesn’t believe you are in business to help them.
If you are to achieve long-term success and happiness as a business owner, it won’t just come from all you do each day. You can work from sun up to sun down, seven days a week, and your business can still fail.
What’s going to bring you long-lasting success is a combination of knowing why you’re in business and doing what’s necessary to accomplish it. In fact, your why matters more than your what.
You see, if you don’t have a strong “why” for your business, you are going to falter, wander aimlessly and eventually burn out.
It’s like working with a broken compass – you may think you’re going North, but in, reality, you have no idea which direction you’re heading. It’s tough to get where you want to go if you don’t know where you are.
Take a breath and figure it out
If you don’t yet know your company’s purpose, take some time to figure it out now.
Start by answering these five questions:
- What do you love to do?
- What’s the one thing you feel supremely qualified to do, create or teach?
- Who do you serve?
- Where do you add the greatest value to the people you serve and how can you make them feel well taken care of?
- How do people change as result of what you do?
Lengthy responses aren’t required here; they can be short and sweet. If you really hone in on your inner voice… if you are true to yourself, you’ll recognize your purpose right away when you land on it. It will feel like you struck gold.
Vision: The bridge that connects your purpose to your goals
Once you’ve determined your purpose, you should come up with a strategy for its fulfillment.
That’s your vision. It’s a blueprint of the types of things you’re going to do to achieve your “why.”
Creating a vision gives you a destination, so you’ll know what you’re aiming for. Our vision tool is a fast and easy way for you to generate a vision statement that details a strategy to bring your purpose to fruition.
You accomplish your vision by creating several short-term goals to keep you on course. Your vision is your destination, and your goals plot your course to get there.
An excellent way to think of purpose, vision, and goals is as your “why,” “what,” and “how,” respectively.
Keep checking in…
Just because you’ve plotted the course doesn’t mean you can put your whole plan on auto-pilot.
When pilots reach cruising altitude, they’ll quite often put the plane on auto-pilot and let years of genius physics and calculus computations steer the plane toward its destination.
But even with autopilot, you’ve got to manually get the plane in the air and manually land it. And you’ve got to keep an eye on your instruments and pay attention to possible curve balls Mother Nature might toss your way.
The same goes for your business.
Just because you have a purpose, vision and goals in place, you cannot rely on autopilot to get you where you want to go. You have to be personally involved and focused on the process.
One way to do that is to pay attention to your energy. You see, energy is everything, and it is everywhere, including within you and me.
Every so often, check in with yourself to see what kind of energy you’re putting into and getting out of your business.
If you feel bad about yourself and what you are doing, or you frequently feel drained as you go through the day, those are “street signs” that are trying to tell you that you are going in the wrong direction.
When that happens, stop, get quiet and review your purpose. You want to make sure that what you’ve identified is on point for you. If you have truly identified your unique gifts and passions, then you are on purpose. It’s simply time to do some analysis of the vision you’ve put in place.
On the other hand, if you’re putting in long days and you’re still excited to get up the next morning and get started, and what you’re doing each day fuels your dreams at night, you can be sure that you’re in alignment with your purpose and vision.
Lighten up
Our company does business all over the world. And as seriously as I take that, I don’t sink into despair when things aren’t going as well as I’d like.
When you think, “Nothing is working. I don’t know how to do this”—get over it. Stop thinking about what you don’t want, and start focusing on what you do want.
Start thinking of money and being in business as I do. I see them as a game where, if you understand and play by the rules, which are the laws of success, you will win.
When things aren’t working, or you lose a little money, realize you need to raise your awareness (study the laws) so you can re-think some things and make the appropriate adjustments. Then, wrap your arms around yourself and remember that you’re doing what you truly love to do.
Listen, life is here to be enjoyed. You’re on purpose… you’re on your way… enjoy the journey, for heaven’s sake. After all, that’s what you’re doing this for, isn’t it?
To your success,
Bob Proctor