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I’d like to start this
article off with a question. What’s the purpose of a
business? Or, perhaps more specifically, what’s the
purpose of your business? Do you ever think about that
throughout the course of the day? Or, does it only haunt
you at night or when you are trying to clear a jam in the
copier?
Ten years ago I would have
gone with Peter Drucker’s answer – The purpose of a
business is to create a customer. Today, after 25 years of
business ownership and asking several hundred small
business owners this very question, I would have to say
that the real purpose of a business is to give the owner
of that business more life, more freedom.
In all my years though, I
have never had a small business owner give me that answer.
Many business owners instinctively go into business with
the goal of achieving something that fulfills their
dreams, but the making it, fixing it, shipping it quickly
consumes. The phone rings and business owner reacts
without thought to the demand on the other end.
At some point this
wonderful vision of freedom and expression that you had
for you business became just the opposite--The monster
that methodically took the life right out of you. Has
anyone come to realize that your business can rob you of
your life it you are willing to let it?
So, what’s the answer?
I think the answer to this
puzzle comes down to two things – focus and connection.
Focus involves a discovery,
or at least rediscovery, of what you want most out of your
life. That knowledge then must become the focus of your
thoughts and the basis for your business decision-making.
See, unless you know and focus on what more life and more
freedom really means to you and only you then you will
never be able to go about building a business that
delivers it.
Connection is the
systematic application of your purpose in life to the
day-to-day function of your business. There has been so
much written about the need to “leave one’s business
behind at the end of the day” and I think that’s part
of the problem. As I’m sure you’ve discovered, you
can’t leave it so all you do is wrestle with it. Better
to find a way to connect your business to your life. Now,
in some cases, that may mean making dramatic changes in
the way you go about your business, what your business
does and who your business serves.
I can’t give you all the
answers to life’s most persistent questions in the span
of this article, but I can tell you this – Wake up or
else. I’m not going to dwell on the “or else” as I
suspect you may have already experienced it in some
fashion.
I will however leave you
with this paraphrased thought from an Ogden Nash poem
titled “Portrait Of An Artist As Prematurely Old Man”
– Most of will regret our sins of omission, the things
we didn’t’ do, far more than the sins of commission,
the things we did do. See the full text here.
Find what you want out of
life, find what you are willing to leave behind in order
to get it and then connect that purpose every single day
with what you do and you just may actually catch a glimpse
of the magic that owning a small business can bring.
Copyright 2004 John Jantsch
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About
The Author
John
Jantsch is a marketing coach, speaker and
best-selling coauthor of Wake Up . . .
Live the Life You Love featuring
contributions from Wayne Dyer, Deepak
Chopra and Mark Victor Hansen. You can
find out more by visiting http://www.JohnJantsch.com. |
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