(Continued from our newsletter)…
And I know it’s not all roses. That’s why I wrote my poem, Nobody Told Me. There are days when I feel like it’s an uphill battle at times, but the payoffs are usually so huge that I can look the other way. And, really, if my biggest gripe about work is that my printer cartridge won’t align…well, it’s not such a bad day, is it?
Still, the freedoms I have in my business come from making deliberate choices. Over the years, I’ve really looked at my values. I’ve figured out what I’m willing to do and what I’m not. And I’ve designed my business accordingly. Because I value having a ton of flexibility in my work, I’ve automated as much as I can. I’ve built in multiple revenue streams, such as consulting, coaching, teaching, facilitating, writing, publishing and speaking. I’ve accepted that I really hate doing some things, such as organizing my office, and I’ve enlisted help to get those things done.
To get here, I’ve done a lot of personal work. Over time, a lot of entrepreneurs take good hard looks at themselves and figure out how to align their businesses with their values and interests. It’s an important exercise. And it’s one that should inform how entrepreneurs write their business plans. Because your business plan is only as good as your ability to implement it and to believe in it. If you can’t buy into your own plan because you hate the work, you’d rather be on the ski slopes or at the beach, or you miss your family, you’re doing it wrong. Your business plan absolutely needs to consider the values, limits and opportunities you have as an entrepreneur. And while you might not put all those things into the plan for investors or bankers to see, those choices darn well ought to shape your business plan.
Last summer and fall, when I was teaching a group of entrepreneurs, I realized that no one really talks about how your personal situation shapes your business strategy. And, at the same time, no one really talks you through *how* to put together a business strategy. If you grab most of the books on business plans, they don’t really tell you how to come up wit the information for each section. So I started work on a new kind of business plan. Write Your Business Plan Now walks people through the steps involved
in developing a business plan, while taking into account your own personal circumstances. At the same time, it provides tools for working through all the phases of a business plan, complete with a ready-to-edit Word template and fill-in-the-blank Excel spreadsheets. And it’s designed for both established and upstart businesses.
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What work have you done to design your own business with purpose? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page or comment on Nobody Told Me.