Lets Build a Business: 1. Figuring Out Where You Got Lost

I think that I do my best work when I have a plan or some kind of goal. This is becoming very apparent with the business that I am building here. Lately I have been floundering just a bit as I try to find a consistent workflow. My suspicion is that I am floundering because there is no consistent workflow, because there is no clear goal ;). Additionally I think there is no clear goal because I do not fully understand the business I am trying to create. Let's step through a little discovery together and try to figure it out.

Moving Backwards To Figure Out Where You Are

Sometimes we all feel a little lost. One of the things I do when I feel lost is backtrack to try and figure out where the confusion happened. This can work for just about everything. Can't figure out some math? Maybe there is a basic concept that you missed which you need to go back and review before moving forward.

I think this can be especially difficult in today's landscapes because we are tuned to have everything instantly and it feels like a loss to have to stop and move backwards in order to move forwards.

Figuring Out the Question

Before you can move towards an answer you first need to figure out the question, right? So let's do that by asking ourselves 'why'.

I do not have a consistent schedule - why?

Because I do not know what to focus on - why?

Because I do not have a focused idea of what to do - why?

Because I do not really know the overall idea for my business - why?

Because I jumped ahead too fast and started acting on the idea of my business instead of spending time developing the overall goal - why?

Because I felt the pressure to start pumping out content - why?

Because I thought that was what you needed to do - why?

Because I did not fully understand the structure of this type of business.

I almost stopped after the third why, but I spent a little time thinking and was able to get down to a deeper level.

Digesting The Question

Now that we have the question to answer, let's figure out how to get an answer. If I do not fully understand the structure of this type of business then it's not realistic to make goals that work to build. Making any goal now would essentially be me trying to get lucky and landing on the right thing to do. Understanding the structure of this type of business allows me to depend less on blind luck, and actually make goals that move me towards the vision I have for the business.

So - the action plan now: Figuring out the actual structure and goals I have for this business. I'll let you know where I end up in the next blog post!