Do you have a crystal clear idea of what kinds of business
undertakings will align with your gifts, talents, passions,
and strengths? If so, you are in an excellent position to
choose the ventures that can give you the greatest
satisfaction and results.
Developing a set of "business success criteria" can help
you select a worthwhile endeavor with much deeper insight,
and thus establish the conditions for successfully pursuing
it.
Why is this critical? Many people wander into businesses,
projects, and professions opportunistically, meaning that
they grab something that comes along because it's available
and convenient. At times, this may be necessary for
financial reasons. But unless we understand our underlying
success criteria, we might not recognize the options that
truly fuel and inspire us -- those that are best suited to
our passions and strengths.
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From "Corporate Passenger" to "Entrepreneurial Driver"
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Identifying business success criteria can be easier for
some people than for others. For example, those who leave
corporate life to pursue an entrepreneurial endeavor might
experience a more roundabout discovery process. For that
reason, I'll use the following story to illustrate how this
process might occur.
Roger and Roberta have grown tired of the grind and
internal politics of corporate life. When their kids leave
home, they conclude that it's time to switch to something
more rewarding. But what? After a great deal of thought,
they decide to start by contracting out their services to
their former employers, which seems like the safest way to
begin their transition. Later, they believe they will
tackle some kind venture together, such as starting or
buying a business.
After spending many years working as jobholders, however,
their mindsets are still functioning in an employee mode.
Because their outlooks revolve primarily around meeting the
expectations of others, Roger and Roberta simply haven't
developed their own sets of values, visions, and goals.
In some ways, they feel as if they've been passengers in
the back seat of a moving car, unable to steer. To pursue
starting or buying their own business, they'll need to find
a way to move from the "passenger's seat" to the "driver's
seat" where they'll have better visibility and more control
over their destinies.
And although they don't realize it yet, doing this will
mean changing their mindsets. They'll first need to shift
from thinking like employees to thinking like contractors.
Then they'll need to start thinking like consultants.
Ultimately, they'll need to think like entrepreneurs. Along
the way, they will develop their own business success
criteria that will enable them to identify business
ventures, clients, collaborators, and employees that fit
them like a glove.
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How to Derive Your Own Success Criteria
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I work with clients to meticulously identify their life
passions, purpose, strengths, gifts, life themes, and core
values. By the end of that process, they have a list of the
specific ways in which they can evaluate future business
ventures, partners, clients, and projects. Some of the
criteria are more practical and others more lofty. But each
selected criterion seems essential to achieving balance,
fulfillment, financial return, and higher contribution in
their lives.
For example, your success criteria can include everything
from maintaining a healthy mix of work and recreation to
seeking only what you believe you could be the best in the
world at doing. Your criteria also can include many
practical considerations, such as the qualities you would
desire in potential collaborators. To spark your
imagination, consider using categories such as these, each
of which can hold more specific criteria:
* Alignment with passions and strengths
* Startup or acquisition requirements
* Potential for return on investment
* Control over working parameters
* Traits of potential collaborators
* Quality-of-life considerations
* Exit options or alternatives
Did you notice that the criteria are fairly neutral? That's
because only you (or your team) can decide just how
important each criterion is. You can then assign numerical
priorities, rankings, or weights to your criteria. In this
way, you'll create a powerful checklist for comparing,
scoring, evaluating, and ultimately selecting future
business ventures and related conditions, which will
thereby set the conditions for success.
To summarize, aligning your life passions with your
business purpose can help you define your business success
criteria. Especially when you shift into an entrepreneurial
mode after many years of corporate employment, those
criteria illuminate how to choose the right situations, and
establish the conditions for successfully pursuing them.
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Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of the award-winning
"Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" program.
She helps people "discover and recover" the profits their
businesses may be losing every day through overlooked
performance potential. To sign up for more free tips, visit
her site at http://LearnShareProsper.com
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