Building A Business That Works For You

Before you want to build your business, you need to know why you are in this business.

Many of us entered business as a technician. You know the technical nature of this business; you do it everyday; over and over again. The question is: How can you do this technical work with the highest level of efficiency and effectiveness so that you'll have a great business?

Some of you entered the business as the manager. You plan, you quantify, and you implement it with and through others. The question is: How can you do management work that will get your team to work for as though they're running their own business?

Some of you entered the business as an entrepreneur. You have this wonderful idea. You're an innovator. How do I get others to see it, to feel it, to breathe it?

Is this familiar to you? It should be, there is an entrepreneur, manager and technician in all of us. We need all three to have a successful business.

Building a Business FOR YOU is just about 3 steps:

Step 1: Why You Do What You Do

The starting point for building a business that works begins with why you do what you do. The challenge facing most business owners is the understanding of what they want for their life. It's not the cars, the money, or the house. It is the essence, the purpose of their life. It's the source of their passion and their vitality. It gives them clarity and purpose. It is their guiding light. It is what we call their Ultimate Objective.

Do you know your Ultimate Objective? The business is designed and built to give you what you want, because it's your life we're talking about.

Step 2: Your Strategic Vision

A Strategic Vision describes what your business will look like when it is complete. It will define your products and services and how those products and services will be delivered.

It will identify your customers and how those customers will be located, cared for and served. It will quantify your sales and profit goals. It will describe your culture; employee behavior, operational philosophy and the unique characteristics that will allow your company to fulfill your entrepreneurial vision.

It is your vision for the future. Your Strategic Vision should be so clear and precise that any question you have about the business can be answered by reading it. The Strategic Vision is the source of bringing balance to the entrepreneur, the manager and the technician. The entrepreneur creates the vision in the Strategic Vision, the manager plans, quantifies and implements the vision, and the technician does the work of the work.

Understand that your Strategic Vision is one of the most effective ways to share your dream with employees and identify how employees will participate in realizing your dream. It is their guide of how they do it and why they do it. Do your strategic vision now!

Step 3: Your Business Plan

Now is the time to write your business plan. Your business plan is a detailed roadmap of how you are going to build your business that will achieve your Ultimate Objective and your Strategic Vision.

Your business plan must cover 7 essential things: Executive Summary, Business Mission and Vision, Business Strategy, Marketing Plan, Operational Plan, Human Resource Plan and Financial Projections.

Gordon Goh is author of the free, informative website Simply Motivation offering quality useful tips for Motivation