The Non-Digital Relics of our Beginnings
I just finished the latest draft of our business plan. I hate writing business plans and tweaking spreadsheets. I only do it because there’s a chance it could wind up getting my company the money we need to grow.
Yesterday, I was speaking with a community group about how my company started. I was telling them about the first conversation between my business partner and I and how the outcome was an outline of the dry erase board. We still have a picture of it, somewhere, like it was our Rosetta Stone, helping us figure out where we were headed. Maybe it will be like Google’s garage.
Whether you run your own online business or you manage something that’s very offline, it’s important to think of how it all got started. Time and again, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders end up at a place questioning when it all changed. They wonder why a job they used to love turned into one they hate.
For me, it always helps to go back to the beginning. Or to put it on paper. Or to remind myself of the vision of what we’re trying to create. Doing so will help you find your place and make sure you don’t end up somewhere you don’t want to be.
What’s your relic? A founding document? An original business plan, piece of packaging or early prototype? Or, what keeps you on track towards that which you’ve been trying to create all along?
