What do you want???
What do you want? No, really, what do you want? Who do you really want to be as a business? That’s the question I want you to answer today. Thomas Joyner with business on Purpose here.
So... that question, “what do you want?” Is always the first question we ask a business when we sit down to meet with them. It’s a powerful question because it always informs us of if the business really knows who they are and where they’re headed.
Now, why do we ask this? Well, if we don’t know where we’re going... how can we make sure we are going to get there?
Let me put this in practical terms by giving you some examples. I met with a small contracting company recently and asked them this. Their answer was telling…
“Well, I don’t really know. I mean, we were doing great doing high-end residential builds. We were a small crew and kept it pretty tight with the subs we chose. But then we got a great opportunity to start some high-end remodels. So now, we’re kind of a builder who does some high-end remodels on the side. Does that answer your question?”
I kind of laughed, when I said…”NO! You just told me what your business has morphed into. Not what you want it to be.”
And it’s true, right? If we don’t have a clear vision of what we want, who we want to be, and where we’re headed... it’s so easy to get caught taking a detour that we never intended. Now, obviously, sometimes these can be profitable. But, in this instance, the business had to hire another project manager to manage new sub crews, and had to add another admin to keep up with billing and invoicing, and ordering, all to maintain work that they didn’t really want to be doing!
Another story for you…”What do you want? Another client new exactly the sales goal they wanted to hit, they knew the team size they needed to reach that goal, they knew the areas of their market they wanted to penetrate and the potential distractions to avoid along the way.”
I can’t tell you the freedom that brings a business. To know where you want to end up! From there you can work backwards in knowing if your employees are the right people to chase after the VIsion. In knowing if your ORG chart can sustain your vision. In seeing if you’re offering the right product/service mix to reach these goals.
Do you need to cut back somewhere? Do you need to add something? Are you being distracted in a way that is robbing you of efficiency and robbing you of your ultimate goal?
This stuff happens all the time!
Now, it has to be achievable. You can’t throw out some wild, off-the-wall Vision that has zero chance of being accomplished. But, is there growth that is manageable in a 1-3 year window. Then at the end of that time period, figure out where the next growth can land you.
If I could give your business one gift today... it would be a crystal clear picture of where you’re headed. That’s it! And it may sound elementary, but as I said, the businesses that don’t know where they’re going will never accomplish what they want to accomplish.
So, what do you do with this? Well, set a meeting with yourself this week if you don’t know what you want. Put it in the calendar right now. And if you do, set a meeting with yourself to look back at it and see if there’s anything unintentionally distracting you from reaching it.
Ask yourself when you see this vision coming to fruition. Ask yourself if the business is helping you achieve the life you want for your family...and what is that life you want for your family? Ask what revenue and margins you want to hit. Figure out who you need in your business to make this happen. What products and services you need to offer... and then finally, what culture you need to cultivate to accomplish all of this.
That’s the starting point... and so much more. If you can’t answer these questions, you run the risk... day after day... of getting pulled away to a vision you don’t really want.
So set the meeting with yourself... write it down. Revisit it often. And build a plan to get there... on purpose.
I hope this was helpful, make sure to follow us on YouTube and our the mybusinessonpurpose podcast.
Have a great week!
