sources and supporters. No one succeeds alone—so right from Week One, you’ll start building your network.
GOALS FOR STARTING MY BUSINESS
Specific Goals:
Enter the number or amount you hope to achieve for your business in one year, five years, and ten years.
Priorities:
Rate your priorities for your business.
ACCOMPLISHMENT #1:
Clarify your business concept
My Checklist:
Identify your personal goals
Spell out your business values
Remind yourself of your source of inspiration
Describe your business concept
Identify your strategic position
Decide whether you want partners
Decide whether you want investors
Consider potential exit strategies
Discuss the impact of starting a business with your family
If you were building a house, before you drew up the blueprints, laid the foundation, or even bought the land, you’d first have a vision of what you’d want that house to be: big or small, one story or two, in the city or in the country. You’d have a “vision” of your future home. The same is true when building a company: You need a vision of what you hope to achieve.
When you imagine your business, what do you hope for? To make a lot of money? Use your creativity? Have more flexibility in your life? Do you see yourself working alone or building a company with employees? Do you hope your company grows very large or do you want it to stay small?
As you launch your new company, it’s important to clarify and evaluate your business concept. What is your long-term vision? What are your personal goals? What do you see as the business opportunity? From that, how do you define your business specifics—what it does, whom it serves, how it differs from the competition?
Check It Out
For a list of the most popular sole proprietor businesses in the U.S., go to the Census Bureau’s nonemployee statistics: www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer
Some entrepreneurs describe themselves as “visionaries” because they can conceive of grand schemes or bold new inventions. They envision their companies clobbering the competition, defining new product categories, perhaps growing to hundreds of millions—if not billions—of dollars.
MY PERSONAL GOALS: THE FOUR Cs
Make copies of this worksheet for yourself and your partners or key employees, if any. Check the level of importance to you in each area.
But a business “vision” doesn’t have to be revolutionary. The important part is that you identify what you see your business becoming: what it will do or make, how it will grow and compete, how big it will get.
Over time, your business vision will almost certainly change. As you gain experience and confidence, you may change the nature of your products or services, your personal goals may evolve, and the things that seem most important to you now may be much less so in the next few years.
Nevertheless, clarifying your current business vision and articulating your specific business concept gives you a stronger start as you begin building your company. Use the “Goals for Starting My Business” worksheet on page 4 as a starting place for defining your business goals.
What are your personal goals in growing your business? Some businesses fail, and others flounder, because their founders or executives are uncertain of what they really want to achieve, and they don’t structure the company and their responsibilities in ways that satisfy their personal needs and ambitions.
The Four Cs
For most entrepreneurs, their personal goals can be summed up by the Four Cs: Creativity, Control, Challenge, and Cash. Of course, we each want all four of these to some degree, but knowing which we most want or need can help us structure our companies to best achieve our goals.
For instance, my very first clients were the owners of a small sportswear apparel company. The designer began the business because she was good at—and loved—designing clothes. Her primary motivation was being able to act on her creativity. But an apparel company doesn’t run on designs alone. There is a myriad of purely “business” aspects of the company—sales, operations, manufacturing, etc. If she hadn’t planned for it, she might have spent the majority of her time on such issues instead of designing. Fortunately, she had a partner to take over those responsibilities. She gave up some control—which wasn’t a major concern of hers—to maintain her creativity.
Which of the Four Cs motivates you most?
If you have a high need for creativity, make certain you remain involved in the creative process as your company develops. You’ll want to shape your business so it’s not just an instrument for earning an income but also a way for maintaining your creative stimulation and making a larger contribution to society. But don’t overpersonalize your company, especially if it’s large. Allow room for others, particularly partners and key personnel, to share in the creative process.
