Like many, you may have just finished shopping, wrapping, and giving a few gifts to others. As the year winds down over the next few days, there is now an opportunity to start that process over again with the result potentially being a gift to yourself for the coming year. You may have at one time wished you could start a business or simply do work that you truly care about. What a nice gift that would be to at least go through the steps of finding out if that were even possible for you.
It's an amazing statistic that, on average, a person will try and fail at achieving a goal less than one time. That means that an enormous amount of time no action is ever taken to even make a goal possible. They key word there is "action", because unless you do something to move you towards a goal, it is only a wish.
Before you start a business, it is important to consider the things that will be required to be successful in that business. This is especially true when the business requires that you interact with people, and it is pretty hard to find any business completely absent of that. JumpBunch, for instance, is a business where people drive things from every angle, almost like the wheels on a car. If one tire is low, it affects the performance of the vehicle as a whole. A blowout of a tire stops you in your tracks. By carefully considering what has to be done for success, considering if you are able to do it, and realistically asking if you will do it, the road to owning your own business can be one that leads you to where you want to go instead of where you simply end up.
As a football fan, and more specifically an Atlanta Falcons fan, I have recent and heart breaking experience with halftime adjustments. Problem was, the adjustments were made to beat my team that seemingly had things locked up. The New England Patriots went into halftime last January with dimming chances to be Super Bowl champions two quarters later. However, at the end of those two quarters they were indeed champions yet again. For that to have happened, the team had to make adjustments to a direction that was not headed towards what they all wanted. Those adjustments certainly would have included things they were doing that needed to stop and things they weren't doing that needed to start.
January is all about goal setting right? You must set your goals so you know what you are working towards this year. I am not going to discourage that, but this year I am taking a break from encouraging it. The reason is simple. Everyone assumes the starting point is the goal, but just leaping into goal setting is like taking Spanish 2 before Spanish 1. So let’s just save the goal setting for another day…or year. The truth is, if you understand the prerequisite then the goal setting is not a chore but an act of enjoyment and clarity.
Though you may or may not actually say the words "what if?", everyone occasionally wonders about some of the countless decisions you didn't make. I'm not talking about the less significant ones like "What if I had worn that blue shirt yesterday?' or "What if I had ordered a latte instead of a cappuccino?". No, in the grand scheme of things those likely didn't throw you too far in one direction or another. Now, some other ones such as "What if I had gotten to work on time?" or "What if I had asked someone else out instead of her?" might have had a much greater impact. Nevertheless, it is human nature to pause at certain times to think "What if?".
Franchise Business Review recently featured Jil Anderson in a JumpBunch franchisee spotlight interview for their website. In many ways she is the embodiment of what makes a successful JumpBunch owner. She did her research, knew what she was looking for, and then committed herself to following the established system her chosen franchise had in place. As Jil has grown more successful as a franchise owner, her level of giving back to the system has only increased. This high level of engagement benefits her fellow franchisees, but it also keeps her focused on the fact that you are never too experienced to learn from your peers. Along with the established practices and procedures, the group dynamic and opportunities for peer to peer interaction are invaluable parts of the franchise experience.
