Three Key Questions to Guide What

What’s next for you and your business? Are you going through a transition that seems hard to manage?

Have you figured out how you will let go of the old beliefs and methods to reorient yourself to your ‘what’s next’?

Getting started is often the hardest part, so I developed Three Key Questions to guide what’s next for your business:

1. Imagine one year from now and you’ve had a very successful year. What does that look like; what would have happened and why are those things important to you?
   
   
2. If you know where you are today and where you want to be a year from now, why aren't you already there? What are the roadblocks in your way?
   
   
3. What is the one thing within your control you could do today to set your course or remove a roadblock?

Cindy is an accountant who is an outsourced chief financial officer for family-owned businesses. She had a successful corporate career and launched her company seven years ago.

With an unwavering work ethic, she has a team of seven and cares deeply about her staff and clients. Cindy agreed to share her goals and roadblocks.

Today’s Three Key Questions:

1. Imagine one year from now and you’ve had a very successful year. What does that look like; what would have happened, and why are those things important to you?
   
   

Cindy’s Goals:

• Much less stress and anxiety.
• I can step away from my business to recharge, without feeling like things will fall apart.
• I select a few client accounts to work on, but none of the clients need or expect me to manage their account.
• I have a 10% increase in profit margins, 20% increase in revenue.
• These goals are important because this stress is taking a huge toll on my health and wellbeing. I have trouble sleeping, I’m not eating on a regular schedule, and my family calls me ‘grumpy’.

2. If you know where you are today and where you want to be a year from now, why aren't you already there? What are the roadblocks in your way?
   
   

Cindy’s Roadblocks:

• Probably the biggest issue is finding the right staff and keeping them.
• I wish I had a co-pilot who could manage the office without me.
• I also struggle with dividing my time between hiring, managing my team, and taking care of clients. I need three of me!

3. What is the one thing within your control you could do today to set your course or remove a roadblock?
   
   

Cindy’s Tactics:

• The one thing within my control is changing my approach to hiring:
  
  
  • I can hire a couple of contractors instead of focusing on finding one employee.
  • I can hire a virtual executive assistant.
  • I can start thinking about hiring a virtual business manager to take some administrative things off my plate.

But Here’s the Twist . . .

For the first question, it may feel like you’re making things up – but what you’re really doing is future-casting! You’re developing realistic scenarios based on the desires of the business owner and the needs of the business. This gives you a starting place for your goal setting.

Once you have a starting point, you can analyze the challenges to achieving your goals, and determine what you can control today.

Now What?

Starting something new requires a combination of vision, analysis, and resilience.

What do you want to achieve and why does that matter? Knowing this will help steer your decisions and actions in the right direction.

Getting started is often filled with challenges and setbacks – or at least it feels that way. Analyzing those roadblocks can help you figure out how to blast them out of your path.

And knowing what you can control (and what you can’t) helps you build resilience. The ability to be adaptable, bounce back from failures, learn from mistakes, and persist in the face of adversity is the hallmark of a successful business owner.

Whether your ‘what’s next’ is a business expansion, going into new markets, or positioning for your exit, these Three Key Questions will give you a head start on your next steps.

Discover your Exit Readiness Index™ with this assessment: http://she-exits.com/

Imagine one year from now and you’ve had a very successful year. What does that look like; what would have happened, and why are those things important to you?

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