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Featured Article

Dream Big (and write it down)

I don’t know about you, but it is very easy for me to get caught up in the day to day bustle of running my business and to lose sight of the big picture. I find that I need to set aside time to think about what I want my business to be. To dream about what it will look like in the future – of what it can become.

With the holidays approaching and the end of the year almost here, now is the time that we often begin making our plans for the coming year. I generally try to steal some reflection time while travelling and during the quite time between celebrations (when the tryptophan kicks in).

A great exercise to work on your business vision is to work on what the Duct Tape Marketing book (page 29) refers to as your marketing purpose statement. Don’t confuse this with a mission statement. Your Marketing Purpose Statement is not meant to be shared with the public. Rather, think of it as your internal rallying cry. Something you use to motivate yourself and you employees.

The easiest way to start your purpose statement is to fill in the blanks in this sentence:

We are [your company name] and we want to be known as the [the purpose of your business].

When you have your first draft of your purpose statement, think about how you will measure whether or not you are achieving your stated purpose.

Last, but not least, don’t forget to write it down. Write down your marketing purpose statement, and how you will measure it. Write down how you will feel once your company achieves it’s purpose.

Dream Big. Write It Down. Make It Happen.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Bill

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Recommended Reading

This is a great little book (142 pages including the index) that teaches us how to use writing to improve our thinking. The author teaches us how to use "private writing" to produce the moments of genius that we are all capable of on a more consistent basis. Wonderful examples are disbursed throughout the book and each chapter ends with "Point to Remember" and "Try this" sections that help you apply what you have just read.

This book is divided into 4 parts with the meat of the material beginning in Part Two, "The Six Secrets to Private Writing". The chapters in part three expand upon the concepts in part two, offering many practical tips and examples on how to use your writing to expand and improve your thinking. How to change your focus, hold a conversation on paper, "brain-dumping", and how to “extract gold from a business book” are a few of the gems contained in this section.

Part four contains useful resources including a bibliography that serves as great reference for further learning.