“Only I have no luck any more. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”
― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Your adventure begins with dedication to a cause.
What are you dedicated to?
(I love ships, always have, ever since I was a child. I find them beautiful, fearless and fascinating. I often use ships as a metaphor comparing businesses to ships on the ocean. That’s why you see ships as my theme for my web-site.)
So…
I believe ships operate a way a company ought to. A ship has a direction and a destination, either it’s sailing to a predetermined port of call, or it’s in port getting ready to sail to another one.
If you would climb aboard a ship and ask the captain to what destination he was sailing, where he was going, he could tell you in an instant.
Can you do the same for your business?
Businesses seem to want so many different things–or at least they think they want them. They’re unable to focus their efforts, their minds, their hearts on anything specific which all leads to doubt and confusion. Your business isn’t just moving to a predetermined destination it’s an experience. It’s about enjoying the process of growing, hopefully way beyond your years.
One of the main problems with growing a business is that usually the owner has no idea where he wants his business to go. Another top reason… unwilling to change.
As Peter Drucker says… “Planning for tomorrow means sloughing off yesterday. Before you can do something new, you have to stop doing something old.”
So allow me to adorn you this captains hat.
Go ahead, try it on…
There you go…
It looks good on you.
So now that you’re the captain of your business, let me ask you…to what destination are you sailing?
Do you know what you want to make happen?
What is it you want to accomplish?
Are you ready to relish the hidden gems and resources of your business that are uniquely and wonderfully your own?
For many business owners this is not an easy question to answer. It fills their minds full of reluctance and fear, like a person who jumps on a horse and tries to ride it in all directions at once.
No operation can be good at everything.
When I ask a business owner what’s the purpose of their business, the answer is almost always the same…to make money, lots of money.
Well…that’s the obvious answer.
The true purpose of a business is to win and keep a customer, to serve a customer because without customers, you don’t have a business.
However, to pick a direction, to know what your business will stand for and what it will not stand for, you will need to decide.
To be differentiated in the eyes of the marketplace, you have to be known for something in particular. It’s not enough just to be known. (That’s called name awareness, which is not the same thing as being seen as differentiated.) And you can’t have a reputation for being known for something specific if you only do it occasionally.
It’s vital to your success to pick one direction, destination that’s important, then sail to that destination. After reaching your destination, you can sail to another one, then to another, one destination at a time. In this way an owner of a company can reach his goals one by one, until a final destination is reached.
The starting point for any business is having a destination to which the owner wants the business to arrive at. Consequently, there must be a clear strategy as to how to get there.
It is also essential to have a vision of what success will be like once that goal has been reached. This vision must be shared with everyone in the company, so that the company as a whole has a common objective.
“Determine that thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”
—Abaham Lincoln
The strategy you choose for your company must start with critical analysis of your company, market conditions, your competition just to name a few. But it should also involve identifying which actions not to take.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
-– Mark Twain
Your business needs to be free of internal struggle. Not to use all of its resources can be fatal.
So where is your next destination you want to reach?
You have a story to tell, so let’s tell it.
Let’s have an adventure.
If someone came up to you and asked you where your next destination is, could you tell them?
If not, give me a call.
Are you ready to say a hearty yes to your adventure?
Your adventure awaits.
“It’s when you’re safe at home that you wish you were having an adventure. When you’re having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.“
– Thornton Wilder
Cassandro Marketing 