So I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been very absorbed in my daytime job and at home. That’s not to say the business has suffered - I’ve picked up a few important contracts and Enlight Solutions is beginning to gain some traction. Jae is helping me out with a new site design as well!

What’s really fallen by the wayside is the planning and goal setting. I really need to start deciding what problems Enlight Solutions needs to attack. In responding to this issue, I’ve taken five days off from work to do some soul searching and start narrowing things down. Before I start anything like this, I try to set some objectives and plans for what’s ahead.

• Objective 1: Determine what type of business I want to build - what are its ideals, its mission, and product?
• Objective 2: Determine action steps - what will it take for me to get there? Who will I have to meet? How will I meet them?
• Objective 3: Develop a rough business plan
• Objective 4: Develop a rough sales plan

It’s a lot to cover in 5 days, but I’m committed to the task. Sometimes, you just have to jump right in. In order to reach these objectives I’ve set the following agenda for the retreat:

• Personal Life Plan
• Personal Goal Setting
• Brainstorming on what’s marketable
• Market Research
• Consolidation - determine what Enlight Solutions will specialize in
• Business Model
• Revenue Model
• Identify Primary Market and a few secondaries for growth
• Business Plan
• Sales Plan

Is this a good plan of attack? What snags do you think I’ll hit? Is this realistic for five days? Please let me know your thoughts. I will keep posting my progress throughout the week.

In Guy Kawasaki’s first chapter of “The Art of the Start” there was a question that I’ve really been asking myself the last few days.

“I admit it: I’m scared. I can’t afford to quit my current job. Is that a sign that I don’t have what it takes to succeed?”

I love Guy’s response to this. He states:

“You should be scared. If you aren’t scared something is wrong with you…You can reduce these fears by diving into the business and making a little progress each day”

While it made me feel good to read that how does it translate to how I’m starting? I’ve taken that response and tried to apply it to my business. Building a business takes significant time and energy. I’m really committing to stay the course here, and it can’t be done overnight. From that, here’s what I’ve come up with:

• Set tangible, realistic goals.
• Slow and steady wins the race. Develop the skills and build the network. Don’t rush into a venture without the right amount of initial thought.
• Nothing goes as planned, but preparation helps. Have a vision but don’t over commit to what’s just an idea.

Easier said than done, right? I’m convinced that it’s all about patience in a fast paced world that wants you to rush through things. A small amount of progress is still progress. Don’t let the sheer mass of your business initiatives intimidate and overwhelm you into inaction.

I think I just motivated myself to make “a little progress” today.

I did a bit of brainstorming today on my business plan. From my previous exploits, I’ve found that a company without a business plan lacks direction and guidance.

I’ve decided that I’m going to start this exercise in small chunks at a time. Doing a little at a time will allow for the consolidation of my ideas. So I took an hour today to reflect on where I want the business to go. I began with a very simple question - what will it take to support my own, full time salary?

For a long time, I’ve been consulting. I enjoy helping people on custom software development and IT project management. I’m looking to transition a full time job and a part time consulting gig into a full time business. I believe that this can be achieved only through the development of assets. While consulting can make significant amounts of money, time is a limiting factor. You cannot make yourself or your employees available for a limitless number of hours. Therefore, all you can do to boost revenue is to boost rates. This is not something that is fair to my customers, and it’s not a model for significant business growth. At some point, your rates are going to become impractical and your customers will seek business elsewhere.

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