What do you want to do when you grow up? Over the past several weeks I’ve been questioning my business model, what I do, who I do it for and why I do it. I’ve asked myself – who do I like working with (and what are their characteristics), what don’t I like, and what makes me so excited I just can’t wait to get started. For over 35 years, I’ve had my own business and have made money as well as lost time,, energy and had nothing but lint in my pockets. What about you? Sound familiar?
So, come with me on my journey and see where you fit in. Do you have a roadmap? Are you absolutely sure you know where you’re going? Growing up, my family went on a vacation every summer. My parents planned it meticulously. They had to figure out if they had the money (for travel, for food, for hotels, for fees to events, etc.). Did they have the time to take off without being penalized at work? Where should they go? It needed to be something they wanted to do and something us kids would enjoy as well. We traveled all over the United States, and I have some great memories. But I don’t remember them ever asking me specifically if where we were going was someplace I wanted to go. I was basically along for the ride.
The same is true in business now that I’m an adult. I have found myself “going along for the ride”. And during this journey I am learning where I really want to go.
The first step is something my coach asked me to do and boy was it an eye-opener. Get out a pen and paper (yep, I’m an old timer), or open a word document on your computer. Without planning it out first, just sit down and write. Picture in detail what you’d like to be doing in five years. Make sure that you are detailed – I even got down to the point where I talked about what I had to eat for breakfast and dinner. It was really in-depth. And within that description, nowhere did it say anything about managing my magazine, Small Biz Forward.
I realized that that piece of my business was draining me. I was worried about writing articles, getting articles from my writers, printing, getting advertising, and so much of what I didn’t like to do. Yet, I do like to write, so guess what? I’m turning my magazine article writing into blog posts where you get to see them for free. Cool for us both, yes?
If you take the time to do this exercise, you’ll potentially see things about what you enjoy doing and not so much that will mold your future endeavors. It’s really a great way to clarity.
Now that I’ve gotten where I am more sure of my future activities, I can start to flesh them out. Remember, I figured out who and what I liked to do. It’s time now to start to grow my base. Do I have a good email list? Who reads these blogs? How often do I share something and what types of things do I share? I’ve started working on an editorial calendar. That way I can keep up on topics and areas that my clients want to know more about.
It’s something that you should work on as well. After all, if your clients don’t know you exist, don’t know what you do and who you do it for, how are they ever going to figure out they want to buy from you.
If you’re interested in getting these blog posts regularly, you are welcome to register at: success4biz.blogspot.com. Until next time – Soar Higher from your happy Small Biz Wizard (getting pigs to fly is no mortal task! And if I can do that, you know I can help you in your business)
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