And if you think about the question, can you answer it with ease? We
change. Our motives, our needs, perhaps our values, undergo a slow
transformation we may not be aware of. And as our motives responsible
for our actions change, so do we.
The same may be true of the reasons why you saved and struggled to
start your business. It may have been the combined need of
independence and to earn an income for your family. Now that your
business is successful, and that need satisfied, now what?
The business you run today is not the same business you started. Your
business has a personality. It is a reflection of you and your
employee's personalities, a reflection of your wants, needs, and
attitudes toward life. And as employees are added, leave, and
personally change, your business changes. As your products and
markets change, your business changes. What you started, may little
resemble the business of today.
You can be so busy with the daily needs of your business that
reflection and thinking of the future are low on your priority list,
if at all. Are you familiar with the concept of a "retreat"? It is a
time to get away from all daily routine to think and discuss (if it
is a group) your present, your past and what you would like the
future to be.
A retreat is a time out, your personal time to think about your
business. It is asking yourself where you want your business to go?
An answer to the original question "Why are you in business." I will
be surprised if you answer "More toys for my toy box."
Try creating a "mission statement." People wishing to improve their
lives use it; institutions use it to identify their purpose, and
businesses use it to define goals and strategies. The mission
statement I have in mind is your personal statement of what you think
your business is all about. It is a statement - a few pages - that
you craft from your heart.
The New Year is the ideal time to reflect on the past year by looking
at your accomplishments and successes as well as your failures and
unrealized expectations. In other words, a little soul searching of
your business. Your personal performance review of your company may
give you insight into how to build a better business.
However, reflection is only half your assignment - creating plans for
the future is the other. Here are three categories of questions to
think and write about.
1. The process starts with you thinking about the purpose of your
business. What does it do for you? What does it do for anyone?
2. Take a personal inventory of the present state of your business.
What don't you like about your business? What do you like about it?
And what would you change?
3. Now, think about the future. What future do you see for your
company? What do you want your business to become? Is it what you
want? Do you see any obstacles in your path? Do you think you can
overcome them?
The answers to these questions will frame the start of a different
type of business plan, one based not on sales projections and
financial statements coupled with dry canned statements of tactics
and strategy, but a plan created by your vision. It should be a plan
that is yours alone, a dream for your company. It should be a goal of
what you want. As you write your answers and listen to your inner
voice for insight into your present wants and needs, you may create
fresh goals and dreams that will feed your ambition to accomplish
beyond your usual.
If I have convinced you to take a day off, sit down with your laptop
or a yellow pad, and write a long letter to yourself about your
business, using my questions as a guide, you may end the day with a
quiet sense of excitement. You may find that reflection and defining
new goals can be stimulating. Remember as you were starting your
business how excited you were. Would you like to feel that way again?
Take your personal retreat and perhaps it will return.
Dr. Paul E. Adams, Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at
Ramapo College of New Jersey
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