Have you ever had one of those dreams, the kind when you wake up and you’re not sure where you are? Something about that dream causes you to need a minute to reorient yourself. And then it dawns on you that you’re still in bed.
When we start a business we usually have a good idea of why we’re starting that business. But often the daily demands and the metrics we use to gauge our progress can cause us to become a little disoriented. Disoriented in the way we don’t remember exactly why we started our business.
Why You Started Your Business
Sometimes we start a business because we worked in that industry and got tired of working for the boss. Sometimes we need a flexible schedule which a job can’t provide. Sometimes we see an opportunity. Sometimes we just want to make more money and other times there’s a need we believe needs filling.
Whatever the reason for starting your business it’s a good idea to pause now and again to figure out if you realize where you really are. A little like waking up from that dream disoriented not sure where you are. It’s easy to think we’re one place in business when if we really look at it we discover were somewhere else. Of course, I’m not talking about physical location. Instead, I’m talking about the state of your business.
Vision
Even if you started with a clear vision for where you wanted your business to go, and some of us just started our business without a big plan. Either way, we might need to create, re-create or refocus on our vision. After all, why does your business even exist? If it’s all about you I would suggest it’s a little shortsighted. You’re welcome to disagree but in my opinion, a business exists to take care of its clients or customers. And if you have employees it exists to take care of them as well.
In order to be sure you know where you’re going you need to have a clear vision of the future. You need to have a clear purpose as to why that vision is important. While it’s easy to set monetary goals I believe a better goal is to determine whether you’re serving and caring for your clients better today than you were yesterday. What could you do to help engage that impact?
Caring For People
I recently read about a collections agency that didn’t offer bonuses for the amount of money collected but instead, it was based on how many “thank you” cards were sent out. That’s very different for a collection agency. This agency wasn’t just focused on collecting money they were focused on the people because people matter. Yes, they got “thank you” cards from the people that owed their clients money. They used a human approach when interacting with those that owed money. For figure, it worked!
I believe that a fulfilled life comes from the exertion of time and energy for someone else. As a business owner, you have a great opportunity to put time and energy into your clients. I’d like to encourage you to take a look at your business and ensure you’re where you really think you are. And to ensure that where you are is where you want to be.
The sooner you re-examine yourself and your business the easier it is to make sure that you’ve not spent years following a path that isn’t taking you where you really want to go. Maybe it’s time to wake up from the dream of the routine and get reoriented so that you can be sure you’re where you want to be with your business.