Part One of our Business Owners Handbook is to figure out where you are going. Your business growth journey starts here. It’s time to stop firefighting and get inspired again. Remind yourself why you started your business in the first place and set your personal aspirations.

Like most business leaders, you probably know your business inside out, having immersed yourself in the minutiae of its day-to-day challenges for many years.

But when you are dealing with immediate operational issues daily, there is rarely a moment to step away from all the noise and activity to take stock of what’s happening in a more considered way.

Is what you are doing day-to-day working? Are you utilising your talents, know-how, and relationships effectively? Are you keeping yourself energised and happy? These are all great questions to ask yourself. After all, most people start businesses because they want to, not because they need to, and because they have been inspired by a dream or a big idea.

This article is designed to persuade you to take some time out to remind yourself why you started your business in the first place, what the positives of owning your own business are, and to pause and think about where you would like your business to be.

“Our aspirations are what drive us to do our best. Being honest with ourselves and identifying what we’d like to improve can lead to personal growth and new opportunities we wouldn’t have reached otherwise.” Effective Goal Setting – Forbes.

Many of us lose sight of our personal goals when we continuously focus on achieving business objectives rather than our own.

My wife is constantly reminding me, ‘What’s the point of climbing a mountain if you don’t stop on the way up, turn around, and enjoy the view? ‘

Therefore, in this respect, it’s time to take a step back and focus on your personal aspirations.

Your business is an incredible resource for achieving these goals – use it to your advantage.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Henry Ford.

With this in mind, I wanted to share some of my insights to help you aim high and realise your dreams.

Your personal aspirations will affect your business

Be as creative as you want when it comes to working out what exciting looks like. The point is, we can all agree that it’s only once you know what truly gets you excited that you can plan for the same. This is not a business aspiration, but a personal goal.

For a business owner in their 50s or 60s, the thought of spending more time with grandchildren on the golf course or travelling might be appealing, or starting a new hobby, or passing the business on so there is a legacy to be remembered by – maybe that’s what they want.

For a younger business owner who has established a business, they may have a desire to:

• Make the world a better place
• Have a business that supports an enviable external lifestyle
• Make sufficient money to indulge in fun projects
• Become a nationally known brand.

Whatever your aspiration is, it will have an impact on the structure of your business and the way you manage it.

There is nothing wrong with being selfish about your dreams, as long as other people in the business are made aware of your intentions and the business makes the necessary plans to accommodate the changes.

It could be a memorable extended holiday in India that you yearn for with your partner, or having more time off each week to spend with family. Perhaps it’s a new car, a skiing trip with friends this winter, or even a holiday home.

For me, it’s achieving early retirement, then spending time travelling with my wife and conquering some more Wainwrights and Munros while I’m still fit enough to do so.

Are you building a large enough pension pot to allow you to draw down some income before reaching the state pension age, and can you wait that long and to that age to fulfil your aspirations?

Ultimately, to achieve most of the things you want in life, you will need money to live on and to treat yourself. In simplistic terms, owning a business is about putting money in the bank.

Assign a monetary value to your goals.

Ensure that you are always focused and working towards your personal aspirations and put a number on it, e.g. a holiday £6,000, a car £24,000 or a holiday home £250,000.

Break this overall monetary value into sizable chunks, such as by month, over the period you have set.

For instance, if you need to generate an extra £1,000 net profit per month from your business over the next 24 months to buy that new car, set yourself a target of £1,200 per month.

Then stretch this monetary target; it’s always wise to stretch this monetary target by 10-20 per cent. By setting a stretched target, you may well achieve your goal early.

That first month, when you achieve the £1,200 extra income, the self-gratification and sense of achievement will make you step back again and then take the necessary steps to challenge and change things even more. Now the big wheel is turning, and achieving £1,250 per month becomes a new personal objective, thereby creating further appetite for change.

Set realistic timescales to achieve your goals.

Set yourself a realistic timescale to achieve your personal goal. Will it take three, five or even 10 years to achieve? Ensure the target is realistic, and by stretching it marginally, you are likely to challenge yourself to step back, reflect on yourself, adapt, and approach things differently. It’s about working smarter, rather than harder.

I’m currently supporting a business owner who has set a five-year plan to exit his business and retire. We are 18 months in and are realistically ahead of schedule by a good year.

Interestingly, as he can see the end in sight, he is eager to accelerate the progress.

Visualise your dream

Visualise your dream. Have a picture of your dream on the office wall, fridge door or screen saver on your phone or computer. Keep believing this dream is within reach and sense the feeling of achievement!

“Business Doctors has given me the confidence to try new ideas, step out of the day-to-day routine and get excited about the future instead of being despondent.” Stacey Dunne, Owner of Hartpury Saddlery.

Imagine your personal goal is within reach, and keep sensing the feeling of achievement.

This will help you focus on the tasks at hand and remind you why you’re working long hours and why you’re going through any pain to achieve your goals.

Now that would be a great feeling and sense of achievement! You have a target and the determination to achieve it.

Ultimately, it is your employees who will deliver your objectives and therefore help you to achieve your personal aspiration.

At some point, you may even step away from the day-to-day earlier than you had originally planned and get to the top of that mountain earlier than anticipated.

One important thing to note is that you do need to achieve a balanced approach.

If your dream and target are too easy to achieve, you will never push yourself to drive change. In contrast, if the goal is too stretched and unrealistic, the chances are that you may even give up.

To add, my client’s business is currently generating 18 per cent more revenue and 22 per cent more profit than when we began planning, enabling him to recruit the best talent available and refine his systems and processes.

Our next step is to find his replacement and then begin to hand over and wind down his duties, allowing him to achieve his personal goals.

“Achieving a goal is nothing. The getting there is everything. Jules Michelet

If you would like some help considering what changes need to be made in your business, so your current aspiration can be achieved, book a complimentary discovery session with your local Business Doctor.

Reference: Breaking Big by Capstone – Author Matt Levington, Co-Founder of Business Doctors