My definition of a successful business is a commercial profitable enterprise that can work without you. I want you to think about this. If you haven't written down your dreams or goals, most likely you are helping others to achieve theirs.
This reminds me of the childhood story "Alice in Wonderland". Do you remember the point in the story where Alice came to the fork of the road and she didn't know which way to go? She looked up and up into the tree and she saw the Cheshire Cat. She then asked, "What road should I take?" The Cat replied, "Well, where exactly are you going?" Alice responded by saying, "I'm not sure." "Well, in that case, it doesn't really matter which road you take."
Over my many years of coaching, I found that there are lots of businesses that are not exactly clear on where they're going with their organization or with their businesses. They don't know what they are creating or are even aware if they are creating something. If you're not clear on your destination, your vision, or the purpose of your company, how do you know if you get "there"? How do you expect your team and your employees to follow you? Simply, they cannot. Because you don't know where you are going. When this happens, you just end up with a group of employees clocking in from eight to five, instead of being aligned with the purpose of your business and being a team that works towards a common goal.
Think about a company like Apple. They are probably one of the largest, if not the largest market capitalization companies in the world. They started out in a garage but they had a vision and they knew how they wanted to show up. They knew how they wanted to deliver and create an impact in the marketplace. They were coming up with products and services that we needed and wanted before we even knew we needed, and wanted them. So, think about that. That's how you build a scalable business if you want to someday sell your business or franchise your business or even maybe transition it to someone within your business.
Just like when you get in the car and you're going to a destination for the first time, you go in and you plug the address of where you are going and then your GPS tells you exactly how to get there. In business, it's no different. When you are crystal clear on exactly where you're going in the business, you'll know exactly what steps you need to put in place and how you're going to get there. Also, when you have your vision, mission, and purpose written out clearly, your team will be aligned to your thinking and they will be able to follow you. You and your team are all in the same boat, rowing in the same direction towards the same destination. That's how you become the best in your industry.
It doesn't matter if you want to be the best in your city, your state, your region, or the world. That is how the most successful organizations have done it. They get clear on where they're going, how they're going to get there, and why they're going to get there. Everyone now follows and you end up just being known as the best.
If you want to get clear on your destination, take the time, sit down, and think about it. If you're not clear on your vision, your mission, your purpose, or your destination, you are just like a hamster on the wheel that keeps going around and around. I promise you that there's going to be a day when you look back and all of a sudden, you're 50, 60, or 70 years old, and you're in your business and you're tired, you're exhausted, you're overwhelmed and you wonder why your business isn't where you wanted to be. You will realize that it is because you never got clear on exactly what you wanted it to look like.
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