Preface: It’s important to plan. Many entrepreneurs implement without proper planning and while that can be ok, they could achieve so much more mapping a plan for the vision destination of the business.
Destination – Your Business MAP
20 years ago a man walked up to me at church, and point blank inquired, “If you get where you are going, where will you be”? Destination – it’s clearly important; destination matters. You don’t get lost driving to a local store for the 10th time. It’s when you step outside your comfort zone, i.e. new business, unfamiliar or new product or service areas in your business. To use the travel analogy, If you’re traveling from Washington DC to London, you will probably pay a pilot or captain and for numerous other peripheral services on the way. It will incorporate infrastructure designed to make reaching that destination achievable. The Chinese Admiral Zheng He didn’t make 7 successful voyages to Arabia, East Africa, India, Indonesia, and Thailand in the 1400th century without planning; and chances are he wasn’t the first to think about it, but the important fact, he had a destination in mind and planned appropriately. He also must have had a very high quality map or he wouldn’t have gotten back to China.
Entrepreneurism is very similar. You need to map a plan to reach your destination. Few entrepreneurs invest the appropriate time to think through their business endeavors. Why? Do they think they’re too busy; it’s time and money wasted, and/or would require too much energy; or maybe they’re satisfied with the status quo?
A Business MAP – Marketplace Assessment Profile, is a great way to reach your vision destination. A Business MAP is a business planning tool that helps you make sense of your business; the services(s) and/or products(s) viability in the marketplace, your businesses competitive advantages, industry risk, resource risks, opportunities, and value drivers. A Business MAP looks at your business on both a macro and micro scale, and provides a guide to your businesses future. A Business MAP helps you plan your businesses destination, e.g. organic expansion, gear-up for sale, etc. Studies show that people forget 50%-80% of what they’ve learned after one day, and 97% – 98% after a month. You must map your plan on paper for it to be of any value. Those who do, often harvest 30, 60, or 100 fold.
There is often a reason for the destination. If the destination for your business is $5m of revenue, $50m or $500m, remember this. You won’t get there alone. You will need a definitive plan and vision that you can convince others to join you and help achieve that plan. You either have a plan with a vision, or you become part of someone else’s.
If you don’t have the time to plan and map in detail the vision of your business, you will never have time to reach the destination of your vision. If you’ve built one or more successful entrepreneurial businesses, then it will be easier to build on prior successes; but if you’re just entering the entrepreneurial world, or experiencing only mediocre developments, you’re best advised to retain advisors who can help you plan to achieve your destination successfully. Sometimes the best value is the right advice when mapping and working toward your destination, even if you’re surprised with the upfront cost.