What’s Next for your Business?

OK - you’ve built your business to the level where it’s no longer completely dependent on you. You have some time now to start working ON your business rather than IN it. And even better – you also have the free cash flow being generated month on month to give you some options.

So what’s it to be? Take it to the point where you can sell your business? Maybe you want to get it working completely without you so you can go and do something completely different? Or are you looking to hand your business on to the next generation? Maybe it’s about being able to choose how much you work and what you do within your business?

Well, the good news is you have to do more or less the same things to be able to achieve any of the above. The bad news is you’re in the most dangerous place you could be right now in terms of making that happen.

What do I mean by that? Just take a look at the diagram below.

When we’re in SURVIVAL mode, we do what we need to in order to make things better.

This is because we are all generally motivated to action through either Dissatisfaction (moving away from pain) or through Vision (moving towards pleasure). Dissatisfaction pushes us to do something about it, Vision pulls us to an exciting future.

The trouble is that sometimes, the pain goes away and we get into the COMFORT ZONE. This is arguably the most dangerous place to be because there’s nothing pushing us any more (after all, everything is OK).

We now need Vision – a meaningful, desirable, exciting view of the future to get us to keep moving.

If we don’t keep moving, eventually we end up back in SURVIVAL mode – standing still is not an option. If we stand still, we get overtaken.

However, if we can keep on moving we can get to SIGNIFICANCE. In our terms, a business that isn’t just OK but one that makes a real difference in the lives of its customers, employees, shareholders and the wider community.

So why am I talking about SURVIVAL and SIGNIFICANCE when the question is about What’s Next for your Business? Well, chances are if you’re reading this, you’re in the COMFORT ZONE. So what is it that defines SIGNIFICANCE for you and your business? What’s next depends on how exciting that future is to you.

For example, I know and work with a number of business owners who want to build their business quickly and sell it. For them, it’s all about a life changing sum of money which sets them and their families up for life. They won’t stop working, but they will have complete choice of what they do and when, knowing that their families will be secure forever. This is what motivates them to put the long hours and hard yards in now.

Others I work with aren’t interested in selling. They want to build a business known in their chosen market places for excellence. One that is at the forefront of their field and builds sustainability around a loyal and growing customer base that really appreciates what they do. This is how they bring security and stability to their families, employees and themselves. It’s also highly rewarding for them personally.

Still others see their businesses in terms of the impact they can have on local communities. For them, a sustainable, profitable business is important for what good it can do in the wider world.

The question now, is what are your motivations? If everything’s OK, what is the Vision that will take you out of that COMFORT ZONE and into SIGNIFICANCE. It’s really important that this is your own Vision – not one borrowed from a book, from someone else or from some idea of what we “should” want. It took me a while to find mine – and it’s still evolving as I go. But one thing’s for sure, without that SIGNIFICANCE would still be a hazy, undefined, unreachable mist rather than a clear objective.

If you’re having trouble working out what that irresistibly strong pull to the future is for you. Or if you know what you want and would like to talk about how to get there, feel free to book a 15 minute exploratory call here or email me at [email protected]