Short cuts….short sighted.

As people search the internet to find the answer to “how can I start my own internet business” the answer they find numerous times are “get rich quick” schemes. Often the new internet marketer sees an ad, buys a product, takes a few steps and finds discouragement. They are starting in the middle.

An internet business or online business is no different than any business. It has to have a beginning point. It has to have goals, milestones, and a business plan. But, even before that, it needs to have a vision. Without vision, your business probably won’t succeed.

I think of vision as being able to “see” a clear picture of your fulfilled goals in your mind. It is like the box cover of a difficult puzzle….you must begin with the end in mind! Almost every success in my life has come after having a vision for it. I saw myself winning a golf tournament; I saw myself winning a race; I saw myself changing the way people could make phone calls. Moreover, the successful business owners I have known all have vision.
It is what I call the 10,000 foot view. You see the big picture, and not the obstacles. You cannot allow obstacles to cloud your vision. If you lose sight of your vision your lose hope. And if you lose hope, it’s game over.

Write, draw or mindmap your vision for your business and bring it to life by employing your senses.
• What will your business look like?
• What will you and others think about your vision?
• How will you and your clients feel?
• What colors do you associate with your vision?

Create a vision whiteboard. Start to collect images from magazines, postcards or downloaded from the internet, that represent aspects of your vision. Piece the story board together and place it somewhere you can look at it regularly…post it where you can see it. Feel free to add to it and keep it fresh as your future unfolds.
Through a visioning process you can get clear on a bigger picture for your business, become passionate and excited about the future and then make that a reality by chunking it down into realistic and achievable goals. (We will discuss that in another post.)

When I consult one of the very first steps the client is asked to undertake from the outset is to define a vision to work towards. Keeping fingers crossed, “going with the flow”, drifting or just letting life happen to you are not effective ways of getting what you really want out of life. I often will tell a client that I can make you famous….but; I need to know what to make you famous for! To my surprise, many times they don’t know.

So often we can lose ourselves in a fog of indecisiveness and confusion that procrastination or surrender takes over from drive and focus. Fear keeps us stuck and our dreams go on hold, perhaps never to see the light of day, rendering regret and dissatisfaction as our destiny.

Having a clear goal is not always about pushing ruthlessly ahead for grand and impressive achievements but sometimes just a quiet knowing what you want, how you’d like to be and why you are doing what you are doing, all attach meaning and purpose to life.

We will talk later about how to move forward step by step, but if you don’t start by getting a vision, added efforts could be somewhat futile.

Dream a bit. If you set your target too low, you may hit it, but there is almost no chance that you will surpass it. Alternatively, if you set your target too high, you may fail, but you will be further along than the low target. So dream!

For now, focus on the big picture. Don’t worry about the details of how you will get there. We will discuss goal setting and business plans in future posts.

“You mean the size of my vision will dictate the size of the result?”

Precisely.