We just celebrated July 4 – Independence Day. A time to reflect on our freedoms.
If you’re like me (and most of our clients), freedom and independence were big motivators for you in going into business for yourself. You envisioned a life where you would be happy and fulfilled, where you’d have more freedom, earn more money, and call your own shots, right?
Do you feel…too often…that you’ve been trading your happiness and freedom as you’ve worked to make your business successful? Is profit coming at too high a price?
Do you end up sacrificing personal things important to you because of business responsibilities?
Where exactly did your freedom go??
Do you work long hours, take on tasks you don’t want to do, and let the business run you instead of you running the business? You may be left with no more time left in your day to figure out what to adjust to get to what you want.
It seems like freedom and independence are not compatible with a successful, profitable business.
That’s when your dream becomes the Impossible Dream.
I’m betting I know the source of your conflict—you don’t have a plan.
Your business has been built on an idea, and then you dropped straight into action, implementing the Idea.
Think of it this way. You have a thought about what you want to make for dinner, and you jump right into cooking it without a recipe or a look at the pantry to make sure you have all of the ingredients. You’ll make something, but it might not be exactly what you imagined. It might not even taste very good!
I know creating a plan isn’t very sexy or exciting, but the result of having a plan can be both sexy and exciting.
Taking just a few hours to craft the plan for the second half of this year will enable you to work towards both freedom and profits, happiness, and money. If you already have a plan, take another good look at it now.
It doesn’t have to be pages and pages of stuff.
Your plan can be as simple as this:
What’s the ONE, MEASUREABLE goal you’re going to focus your efforts towards achieving?
What are the five (no more than 5) CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS that must be in play every day, through your every action, that deliver your ONE, MEASURABLE goal?
The Critical Success Factors are strategies in play all year. Each of your actions then delivers against one or more of those Factors.
That’s it.
Once you have a clear plan to follow, your business becomes easier, simpler, and more profitable without costing you your freedom. You will be running your business and living your life…your way!
Now, that’s freedom!
Blessings,
Chris