Building your promotional products business is a journey. How is your journey going? Are you running into unpleasant surprises and unexpected potholes?
Great journeys start with a vision. You must know where you are going. This is your dream. So dream big. What do you hope to find, to create, to feel, to experience and accomplish on your journey? Until you have clarified your vision, you may just be wandering in the wilderness.
Does your journey have a purpose? Yes, of course you want to make money. But what is going to drive you? What will make you continue on when the road takes a turn, the landscape gets boring, the fog rolls in? What idea do you need to make real? What passion does your business journey satisfy? Creativity? Independence? Service to others? Unless you know and understand your mission and your purpose, you won’t have the grounding necessary to see you through the tough times. And there will be tough times. Without that solid grounding, you may abandon ship when the seas get rough.
A journey must have specific goals or objectives. Remember when John F. Kennedy said, “We’ll put a man on the moon and return him safely home by the end of the decade.” That is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based goal setting. Make sure you have specific goals for your journey that produce meaningful action.
You also need to know how you are going to get there. Trains, planes, automobiles for one type of journey. Online, brick and mortar, consultant, sales-oriented, service-oriented, niche focused, digital, social—what vehicles are you going to use to take you on your journey?
Make your plans for a pleasant journey. Don’t let reaction to today’s and yesterday’s mile markers keep you from creating your roadmap to success. Enjoy the journey.
