LIVING THE DREAM: A DAY IN THE LIFE
The objective in the next two chapters is to create a vivid picture. Once you see the best-case and worst-case scenarios, you’ll be better able to avoid mistakes and get where you want to go faster. All kinds of things happen, both good and bad, when people take the entrepreneurial leap. In your case, better to know now rather than later.
First, you’ll see a dream picture of what life could look like. It shows what many entrepreneurs’ lives in fact look like. The next chapter will show you the nightmare, what other entrepreneurs’ lives look like. The contrast will be obvious, and you’ll clearly see why you want to end up closer to the dream end of the spectrum.
THE DREAM
This scenario is possible. I help my clients achieve it every day. However, it’s possible only after you take the leap (which we’ll cover in chapter 14) and survive the start-up phase (which we’ll cover in chapter 15). The dream is the reward for the tough years of building your business.
For this exercise to be most effective, you need to put yourself into the following scenario. Picture this. It’s ten years from now. Your offering to the world has taken off. Your clients or customers love and appreciate it. You have great people working for you, who are as passionate about your product or service as you are. They’re as passionate about your customers as you are. They work hard and are fully engaged every day. Everyone is crystal clear on their roles and their responsibilities. They’re completely accountable and do what they say they will.
You wake up every day at the best time for your unique body, which maximizes your energy. You complete your morning ritual and then head off to work.
At the beginning of each week, you have a meeting with your leadership team, the people who report directly to you. In this meeting, you confirm that all the critical metrics and priorities for the business are on track, and that all your customers and employees are happy. You solve any problems that have arisen and get everything back on track. This sets the tone for the week, and you and your team leave the meeting with clear priorities about what needs to be accomplished over the next seven days to assure that all longer-term goals will be achieved in the coming quarter and year.
You spend time during the week meeting with customers, getting a pulse on their needs, solving their problems, and making sure they’re receiving value. You spend planned-out time during the week thinking about and clarifying the company vision and plans. You focus on customer needs and expectations, ideas for innovating, communicating, and delivering your offerings, and ways of staying one step ahead of your competitors.
On average, you solve six problems or make six decisions each day. That’s because solving problems and making decisions are responsibilities you’ll have until the day you sell your business or retire. You get home at the hour you want, with plenty of time and energy for your family and friends.
As an active business owner, you’re juggling about three to five important projects at any given time. Each project is focused on supporting and growing your business, and the process energizes you. It could be a major software implementation, a new offering, an exciting marketing campaign, raising capital, buying a new building, expanding your space, or preparing for a big presentation or big company event.
You pay yourself fairly—an amount equal to the value you provide. This is enough for you to afford your lifestyle and save enough to retire at the age you want.
In addition, you—and your partners (if you have them)—take a quarterly profit distribution that’s above average in your industry, because your company is so well run. Your highly engaged, committed leadership team and employees receive bonuses or profit-sharing for their contribution to generating an above-average bottom line. Your business and its value continue to grow. Every year your business is worth more. Its value is such that if you chose to sell, you’d receive a large amount of money and be financially set.
You also meet with your leadership team every quarter for a full-day planning session to ensure that the company’s vision and annual plan are on track, set priorities for the next quarter, and solve all relevant strategic issues. You also meet with your leadership team once a year for a two-day annual planning retreat to set next year’s plan, goals, and numbers, and to make sure the team is firing on all cylinders.
During the year, you take as much time off as you choose, which keeps you recharged, balanced, and able to remain a visionary entrepreneur for your people.
Can you see yourself in this dream? That’s what can happen when you become a successful entrepreneur. All the cogs of the machine you’ve created are working in sync.
Now, on to the nightmare end of the spectrum. But before we go there, please capture what you find to be the most appealing aspects of the dream. How do you see your ideal life as an entrepreneur ten years from now? The clearer your vision, the stronger the outcome.
WORKSHEET
What action can you take in the next seven days to assure you’ll live the dream scenario?
You can download all worksheets and tools at e-leap.com.