I had a good friend over for dinner the other night. Shortly after we finished eating she said, “I’m sorry, but I need to leave. I have to get home before it gets dark.” I knew why. The vehicle that she drives has totally crappy headlights. The lights are aligned wrong and don’t point directly to the road in front of her, making night time driving dangerous.
Driving in the dark with bad headlights is kind of like starting a business without vision or a plan.
When we think about starting and growing a business a lot of the time we get held up or we reroute ourselves and our efforts because we can’t see the road that lies ahead. The unknown can be scary and even dangerous. So, how do you move past that fear of the unknown?
We need good headlights – aka a plan or route. I’m not advocating you spend days or weeks creating a detailed business plan. Business plans are useful in rare cases, but what you really need is a simple plan that forces you to create a business model and vision for where you want to take your idea or your business.
Think of the business model as your road ahead, the route you are taking to get to the destination. You don’t need to see the entire route when you start out, you simply need to know that the route is going to get you there eventually. And you’ll know that because you’ve mapped it out. Your vision is that stretch of road that you can see right in front of you at any given moment. As you travel along the route your vision is always there. The picture in front of you might change, but it is still part of vision, and the route.
The truth is, even the best headlights only you show you a short distance ahead, but you trust that the road continues and is safe to continue on. You have trust, because you know the route, you have mapped it and you know it will lead you to the final destination.
