A Different Perspective

Lately, I've been concerned about my business...I seem to be spending way too much time getting far too little done. My staff are very busy, I'm very busy, but we're not getting enough done. More than that, we're not getting more business. I don't have time to market. I don't have time to participate in networking groups, give speeches, think about marketing strategies. I've allowed things to take control of me. I'm not running the business...I'm scrambling to serve clients and ignoring the business.

So, I decided I needed someone else to help me get a vision of where the company is, where it should be headed, and perhaps how to get it there. I have a strong sense that we could have much more business, be making more money, and be accomplishing more, but...how. Well, I have invited a group of people to spend the day with me early in November to give me their perspectives. I'm looking to them to be blunt and to offer a no-holds-barred assessment of what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, and what I should consider changing.

The people I've invited are a varied lot: a highly successful executive who runs a multi-million dollar service business; a Ph.D. who used to work for me, but isn't in to having his own business...but is doing independent contract work now; a couple of people who run fairly large and successful associations; an attorney who knows a bit about association work; a couple of entrepreneurs who used to be corporate types in an engineering environment, but now run a very succesful franchise business, and a scattering of others. I'd like more people from different perspectives, but I find I don't have a particularly diverse circle of acquaintenances.

I need someone with fresh eyes to look at what I do, what I could do...and offer suggestions. I want to either grow the business dramatically, or I want to sell it and do something completely different. The status quo is absolutely not an option. Maybe this experience will get me pumped up...or maybe it will convince me I'm not built for this business. In any event, I need to get shook up and I need to take action.