Draft: Getting Started usually means getting unstuck!
Or, could there be a reason why you're not moving forward?
"Craig helped me create a breakthrough for myself that allowed me to envision a business, do everything I needed to do to get it up and running, and to love doing it, all within the space of three weeks." testimonial from transitioning entrepreneur.
As a business coach, I use a different unusual approach, which often produces spectacular results. I like to believe that we begin at the beginning.
1. Self-Discovery. We start with self-discovery, at the top of this little Venn diagram.
We're looking at our CEO.
What are his/her strengths? Wouldn't it make sense to design our business plan to take maximum advantage of your strengths? While we're at it, we could take some steps to manage around the places where you're not as strong.
This is what self-discovery is all about. I promise that if you embark on this journey with me, you will discover good things that you didn't know about yourself. You already know the bad things.
Why should that be? Would you agree that most of us know our weaknesses much more clearly than our strengths? Can you remember when you came home to your parents with a report card and there were good grades and bad ones? What did your parents want to talk with you about?
Exactly! 77% of parents think their primary job is to help their children when they fail.
So our first program is a process of self-examination which explores where you're really strong, and leverages those strengths to the maximum.
What about places where you really suck? We'll follow my 3-D program: deny, defer, delegate.
If you want your business to grow and be great, don't waste its time with lousy performance, irrespective of whether it's your performance or someone else's. Your time or their time is too valuable.
My full-service coaching process spends time and effort on finding out what are the greatest strengths of the CEO, and strategizing to maximize them. And, of course, steering the CEO away from the time-traps where s/he can spend great time and effort, with poor or little result.
2. Vision
A vision is a picture of what you want to accomplish. It's usually not measured in money. It's usually not about you. It's usually not about now. Here's one example:
In 1982, IBM has just introduced the IBM PC. Bill Gates' Microsoft (a picture shows a dozen young people in tie-dyed tee-shirts) has provided the operating system for IBM. It is called D.O.S. Later on it will be succeeded by Windows.
Bill's vision for his little company: "A computer on every desk!" In 1982 terms, this was outrageous, absurd, impossible. Even IBM didn't believe it. We'll see if we can find a vision as outrageous for you.
3. Mission
Mission is the fulfillment of the Vision, the tasks that you want to accomplish. Again, it's usually not measured in money, about you, or now. Here was Bill Gates' mission: "Microsoft Software on every computer." Also outrageous. That wasn't the way it was then.
Bill Gates' accomplishments are many, and they made him one of the richest men in the world. But consider the vision and mission that he set before his tie-dyed colleagues:
"A computer on every desk, Microsoft software on every computer."
If you're willing to pull this all together, please believe you will attract people, customers, and money.
Most small businesses start without a really clear picture of what they want. There is no guarantee that you'll get what you want. But if you don't know what it is, there's an iron-clad guarantee that you'll never get it!
I promise that If we work together, you will set three targets for yourself - self-knowledge, vision, and mission, and we'll lay the groundwork for extraordinary business success.