There’s no such thing as ugly babies.

Have you ever seen an ugly baby? Okay, I'll ask this another way. Have you ever told the mother her baby is ugly? Unless you have a death wish, probably not. Every baby is a miracle with potential. The future is nothing but green fields. The outcome of a little life will be shaped by the future you have in mind.

There's really no such thing as an ugly baby and there's really no such thing as a stupid business idea. If we are seeing the world through the lens of curiosity, we will see beyond the wrinkly newborn skin and look into the eyes of a new idea with wonder at the potential. We build ideas with an outcome in mind. So where do we start? What has the power to transform an idea into a product with undeniable value? A good plan is a start, but the plan is useless without a process.

In the process of building out CRMs for clients one principle is true regardless of your size or industry: your technology is only as good as your process. There are many right answers when it comes to selecting the process that works for you, so I'm going to trot them out for you as I learn about them.

I'll start with one of the most important truths I've learned this year: you need to start your business with the end in mind. Do you plan to build the value of your business so you can sell? Do you want to just build a solid book of clients and cap it at a certain revenue level? All answers are good, but you have to know where you are going to have the right processes in place to get there.

As a leader for the Women Presidents Organization I had the chance to hear from three CEOs who successfully sold their businesses. Here are a few timeless lessons that apply to any business on starting your business with an exit plan:

- Know your numbers. Review your revenue plan every week to know what money is in the bank and what's in the pipeline. Take a look at expenses you can cut to increase your margins so you can increase your value.

- Evaluate your exit plan. Are you building this business to give yourself a job you love or to position it to sell? Will you plan a full or partial exit? What is your succession plan -- who will take over? How are you getting them ready?

- Understand how to create undeniable value. What would you do to replicate yourself? What would make your customers happy? How can you maintain top quality? How are you leveraging customer successes?

We're going to dig into these concepts every Monday. If you have great ideas, I'd love to hear what you think. In fact, if you have a good business process hack, dive into the chat and let me know. Maybe I'll feature YOU in my next article. If you need help understanding the mind of your customer, maybe you could benefit from my Path to Profitability Workshop: Catalyzing Customer Growth Through Relationship Strategy. This is not a seminar; it's a workshop. You never know what we can create when we put our minds together. Imagine the possibilities.