Navigating the FOG of the Entrepreneurial Journey.
Whether you're at the juncture of growing your business or launching your business, you won't experience the harvest of either until you successfully navigate through the FOG of entrepreneurial and spiritual preparation.
Our mission at CanaGlobal is to fully prepare Kingdom entrepreneurs to launch and accelerate their businesses. And if you've participated in any of our startup bootcamps or structured-mentoring programs, you know firsthand how difficult preparation can be.
We've divided preparation into four foundational pillars:
- Setting your work/life vision
- Building out a business model that supports your vision
- Communicating your digital assets
- Developing a marketing/sales customer acquisition system
Lack of preparation is the #1 dream killer. Rush through this, or worse wing-it, and you'll experience a very unforgiving marketplace. Preparation is a Biblical mandate. (more on this to come).
Proverbs states it best!
Proverbs 21:5 (AMP) The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance and advantage, But everyone who acts in haste comes surely to poverty.
Vision is a precise, clearly defined goal with a detailed plan and timetable for achieving that goal. Anything short of this is, fantasy. Attaining 20/20 vision comes through preparation, and preparation through diligence.
Why is preparation so difficult? The FOG!
When we enter into the bowels of preparation, struggling through lean business canvas, asking the right questions, brainstorming through ideation, challenging every assumption, things get fuzzy and confusing, fast. Welcome to the FOG.
When you enter the fog of preparation, your vision gets blurred. And for a short time nothing makes sense. How will this ever work? At first glance, you may lack the ability and resources to make it work. Branding, digital marketing, business development, funnels, how are you going to do all this? Perhaps everyone's right, you're not cut out for this? Your faith in your dream may begin to waiver. You can easily become double-minded, confused and conflicted. "I Don't Know" becomes your motto.
Look, you have three choices:
- push through
- rush through
- or turn back
I see this all the time. People have their amazing entrepreneurial ideas, everything is exciting, until the preparation begins.
FIRST, allow me to encourage you to push through and do the work. Be diligent. The fog is a normal part of the journey. It's something you'll go-through to get-through. You don't have to do this alone. Invest in mentorship. Either way, you'll pay the price.
- 70% of mentored businesses are experiencing twice the survival rate of non-mentored businesses.
- Businesses receiving structured mentorship increased their annual revenue by an average of 83%, compared to 16% for those who don’t have mentors.
If you are climbing up the preverbal entrepreneurial mountain, expect fog, and if you're a Kingdom-Driven Entrepreneur, expect enemy fire. Yes it's feels brutal, but the rewards are great! Unfortunately, only 10% of humans are motivated by rewards, the remainder are motivated by pain. I choose rewards! Why? Because God promises to reward. Read Hebrews 11:6.
In Q4 of every year I begin preparing for the following year. I examine what worked and didn't, and what I learned. I spend time in expectant prayer, fasting and in God's Word. I'm expectantly preparing to receive insight from God. I'm also diligently preparing through the four pillars above. I must practice what I preach, right? And after over 30 years as a serial entrepreneur, I also enter into the fog of preparation. I too know it is something I must go-through to get-through.
But understand that on the other side of the fog is a 20/20 vision. Like a marathon runner, I push through. As I push through, God is always with me. He's pushing and pulling ... "heavy load coming up the mountain!".
“There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.”
Let 2020 be your year for 20/20 vision, be in it to win it,
-Gerald