When did you last ask this?

When I speak at events I love connecting with business owners - they are smart, switched-on and ambitious, and we have a lovely time discussing HR, company culture, and all sorts of other things.

In the course of a presentation, I'll ask these questions:

1. Why did you set up your business?

2. What does the future look like?

Why do I ask them this? Because they’re the kind of questions that we push to the back of our minds.

We focus so much on being IN the business, that we forget why we started it in the first place, and where we want to get to in the future.

As a result, we’re liable to make decisions that aren’t congruent with our answers to those questions.

Maybe you set up your business to allow you to work around your kids, but now you find yourself missing bedtimes, and opting out of the school run.

Or your ideal future sees you running a “lifestyle business” but, right now, so much of the business is dependent on you that if something doesn’t change, that future’s never going to materialise.

Sitting back, getting a birds-eye view, and thinking hard about the answers to those questions is a valuable exercise, and I urge you to do that.

And if your answers make you realise you need to make some changes, and I can help, please just drop me a line.

Jacqui

Jacqui Mann, Managing Director | www.jmassociates.org