"To know one's self is to know others". Chinese proverb

bymarty-b

136 followers

Updated 8 years ago

When I was asked for making out some figures and expressing how much I want to get out from all this business, I felt abashed.

Do I really want only the money to be happy? What was my real dream about it?. The words of Anita Roddick founder of the Body Shop came up from the deep inside: "I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in."

With that I mean that everybody, and for sure who is entering a business such as we are doing in here, needs a vision.

So before starting out with numbers we should better make out some ideas. And after having identified ourselves and our central objective we should state the rationale for our business and try to answer to three questions:

• What I am trying to achieve right now? (that's my mission and it is better to concentrate on my potential customers instead on myself, or my products, try to remember that people don't want shovels, they want holes in the ground);
• Where am I going? (my vision; the vision is the only limit, if you don't try to fly you risk to get glued to the ground all your life; people may laugh, but no one can foretell the future. Remember the problems that Columbus had getting his "business" plan funded in 1491);
• How I will behave along the way? (my philosophy; I'll avoid the temptation to be trite inserting such things as I do not intend to exploit child's labour, pollute the environment etc, etc and contenting myself with the caring about customers and building relationships with them, being socially responsible. A philosophy makes easier to deal with problems I will be to face in the future. For example The Body Shop is known as much for its policies on the environment and animal rights as for its production themselves) .

See you next time.