We have all heard of the phrase “Begin with the end in mind”, however, many of us don’t really have a clear vision of what it is we really want. I came up with the idea of starting a cleaning company long after I thought I wanted to own a coffee shop. Thankfully, I had a wonderful financial advisor who wasn’t after my money, she wanted her clients to achieve their financial dreams and successes. After knowing me for 2–3 years, she refused to let me use what little savings I had to build a coffee shop. She knew my biggest dream at the time wasn’t about being an entrepreneur or just “quitting a bad boss” because I was miserable at my job. She knew my underlying desire was to 1) walk my talk about following my dreams, 2) teach my nieces and nephews to do the same and 3) to move home to California.
We spend so much time telling people to “follow their passion” and to “begin with the end in mind” and these are actually statements that don’t go deep enough! Its NOT enough to want to follow your passion. And its not enough to have a goal. Having passion and having goals are important but when things get hard — and entrepreneurship is HARD — you have to know what it is that is driving you on all levels and know that you will not quit even when the proverbial s%^& hits the fan (because it will). You must go deeper. What is it you truly want? What else? What else? and keep answering that until you uncover the parts of the journey that excite you the most and what drives you the most when things get hard and life gets in the way (or a pandemic hits).
In 2010, I had two main objectives: 1) To be a leader for the four kids in my family and 2) To move back to the ocean and to be closer to my friends and family in California. Only after those two most important needs surfaced, did the concept of a cleaning company present itself in the form of asking my friend for a job “while I figured out what I wanted to do”. The opportunity of creating and designing a cleaning company arose AFTER I became clear on what my heart genuinely wanted, not before. The first idea of entrepreneurship was not going to help me achieve my two main objectives.
Building a cleaning company from scratch, with no investors, and with never even taking a business class was no easy feat. I tapped into my athletic past as a soccer player and coach as well as my successful parts of my prior careers and dug deep — into my heart, soul, bank account, and networking support to build a company with TEAM in mind. Ultimately, building a company was never only about me. It was about the people who mattered most to me and building a team who could help me get there. Anyone who says they built a company by themselves is not being honest. I couldn’t have built my company without the support and guidance of many people, and most importantly without my employees. Its one thing to be a solo-preneur. Its another one all together to have employees. And its even another to create processes and systems that allow you to become an absentee owner of a company for 3 years. The people are always the heart and soul of a company and it starts with understanding yourself and the lives of the people you want to change.
So yes, begin with the end in mind, but don’t you dare stop digging deep enough until you really know what it is that you want and why you haven’t already gotten there already. Most likely the reason you haven’t found your path or main opportunity is that you haven’t gotten clear on a few things: Who are you really? And what do you REALLY want? And who are you doing it for?
What else?
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