Before I even get into the next chapter of The Right Brain Business Plan, I have to say that I’ve had a couple of revelations:
1. Even when making a business plan is fun, creative and visually appealing; it’s work. It takes discipline to get it done and to make time for it. Forget one chapter a week; I’m lucky to squeeze in one chapter a month! And I think I can open a business?!
2. Writing is my art. Although I love the collages and other artworks that I haven’t abandoned it completely, writing the answers is more accessible for me personally. The questions Jennifer Lee asks tap into my artsy side no matter what form my answers take. Even when creating art, I find it helpful to write down my answers and then find appropriate collage material to glue on top of them. This might be my left-brain talking, I’m not sure!
This month, I worked through Chapter 2. The second sentence of the chapter is, “You set up shop because you want to do things your own way and make your unique impact on the world.” That describes my husband and I to a T. I just can’t see spending my whole life on something I don’t believe matters, and he can’t stand someone else being the boss of him!
The activities in Chapter 2 include a visualization/meditation to help you come up with the “Big-Vision,” making a deck of core values cards, and coming up with a Passion and Purpose Proclamation. This parallels the company overview in traditional business plans.
Big Vision
A central part of chapter 2 is a visualization/meditation that you can download from rightbrainbusinessplan.com. I was a little uncomfortable with this, and after doing the meditation, waiting in vain for a tingling feeling to spread throughout my body, I discovered that there is an alternative freewriting exercise, much more my cuppa. But hey, I can’t complain when I have an excuse to lay down and say it’s for work. I almost got to do it alone, but then my little girl came in and curled up beside me. She was perfectly still and quiet the whole time, so we had a nice time.
Without going into too much detail, I will say that some of my goals—such as a focus on helping others–were really clarified while I did this visualization and I also saw how uncomfortable I was with the idea of wealth and accolades. I’m still not sure what to do with that.
Core Values
I do not have adequate magazines for all these collages, but I loved the core values cards the book suggests making, basically a mini collage or artwork for each value. I have my list of priority values—quiet, order, discipline, thrift, beauty, self-sacrifice, among others–all ready for when I find the materials to make them! If you are not true to your own core values, you will not find satisfaction in your work, others will not enjoy working with you, and you’re on the fast track to failure.
Passion and Purpose Proclamation
If I had tried to write this statement before going through the rest of the chapter, I think I would have come up with something totally different. I almost wish there had been an exercise to do just that, so I would have a before and after. Although I’m not sure I could have come up with anything at all at that point. However, by the end of the chapter, this proclamation came easily—it was almost magical! Here it is:
“I am passionate about accomplishing goals. My purpose is to help people set goals and give them the tools they need to achieve them.”
The business we are hoping to start, a maker space, is largely my husband’s vision; so I was pretty impressed and excited to find that I could come up with a vision statement that so perfectly melded my own personal values with the business. I love that it uses the word “tools” in a literal and metaphoric sense.
“Running a business is as much a personal growth journey as it is a professional endeavor.”
I saw this with my first business and I am seeing it now. I don’t know if this business will ever take off, but I’m excited about the personal growth that is bound to occur either way!
How has running a business helped you grow personally? I’d love to talk about it with you in the comments!
