3% of all business owners make 84% of all private biz income. Why? They’re not covering for unknown weaknesseses.
You get what you intend, not what you hope for.
Our Intention - New Zealand
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This article was published on February 18, 2011. So far, 8 people have left their thoughts. Share your own thoughts.
When we started this business four years ago we decided we wanted it to grow up and make money while we’re gone. Today we leave for New Zealand for 3 1/2 weeks while others run the business. We’ll do things like that regularly going forward. We weren’t lucky, just intentional.
What do we usually decide to do? Work hard for 40 years and make some money. So what do we get? 40 years of hard work and SOME money.
We decided to do it differently and USE our business to build our Ideal Lifestyle.
We decided we wanted our business to give us back both time and money, not just money. And we decided we didn’t want it to take 40 years, but only four, so we could have decades to create significance in the world around us; not just after we “retire”.
We decided we wanted our business to give us a day a week, a week a month, and a month a year – 52% of the year to wake up each day and ask the question, “What should I do today?”. We decided that if we did this, we would never have to retire – it would become a non-question. We decided to replace retirement with an Ideal Lifestyle that we could reach long before the age of 65.
And we decided to do it by growing a Mature Business in exactly four years.
Four years ago we decided to celebrate our Business Maturity Date on this date, Friday, February 18, 2011, by having an 8:30am meeting with our staff, have some Mamosas, and leave at 10am to head for New Zealand. When we decided that, we didn’t have any staff, just the beginnings of a business.
Today, four years later, we have 22 people working with us throughout the U.S. UK, and Ireland, and we’ll grow exponentially this year worldwide. All 22 of those have come on in the last 11 months of this four year journey, starting with our cornerstone, Nora A’Bell, who had the courage to join us March 1 of last year.
We couldn’t be more excited about the world class people who will carry the business forward while we’re gone, and over the next few decades as we go international. This isn’t ours anymore. It has grown up and is leaving home. This isn’t even a business anymore, it’s a movement.
Four years ago and over that first year of our business we made a lot of decisions that are now coming into full bloom. We’re not lucky, we’re not even smart. We’re just relentless.
You get what you intend, not what you hope for.
1) Make a decision
2) Put a date on it.
3) Go public.
It’s time to get ready for our Business Maturity Date celebration in an hour with those running our business, then head to the airport. That over-sized bottle of champagne sitting our our dresser for the last few years is going to get a work out at 8:30am this morning.
We decided to Live Well by Doing Good.
What are you deciding?
Add Your Own
Thoughts
Arnel Tanyag
02/18/11
Thanks, Chuck and Diane.
02/18/11
I love this blog post. Dreams can truly happen in your business. Thanks Chuck and Diane for showing us it can. Have a safe trip.
Doug Root
02/19/11
Chuck,
You are right. About 14 years ago, I decided (intended) that my business needed to be ‘Self-Sustaining and Replicable’. Seems I was using Crankset Concepts without knowing it. Now, with the many clients I work with, I use your concepts to help them build not just better businesses, but better lives.
Rich Anderson
02/19/11
Congratulations Chuck and Diane!
Sarah
02/19/11
Congrats! And thank you for the reminder :)
02/22/11
Congratulations, Chuck and Diane, on reaching your Business Maturity Date! I agree that relentless intentionality (tempered by wise adaptibility) is the key to forward movement.
I have a question: given the perspective of hindsight, what guidance do you have for us about assessing how to discern a good decision?
Jon Hokama
Roberta Budvietas
02/24/11
And it was nice to meet both you and Diane the other day in Auckland New Zealand. Enjoy the rest of your adventure around New Zealand.
Chuck
03/02/11
Roberta,
Great to meet you last week as well – sorry for slow responses – internet has been a challenge. :)
I look forward to talking more with you and seeing how we can push each other forward!
Thanks to the rest of you commenting on our BMD – we’re having a great time! Just hit the south island yesterday and will settle in around Marlborough – lots of biking and wine drinking to be had in this region – great combo. :)
Winno
03/07/11
Wow Chuck, great minds think alike! I wrote a blog post on this very same thing a few days ago. It’s so important to get your business working for you, rather than just working for your business. So many people get caught up in the day to day and forget why they started their own company.
Personally the idea of making my own hours and having more time for myself, my family and my own interests was the motivating factor.
Sometimes its easy to forget to take that step back and enjoy the life you created!
Chuck
03/07/11
Winno,
How right you are – we don’t forget to enjoy the life we created, though. We actually forget to create it! :)
Most business owners forget that they got into business to create a lifestyle for themselves, and instead get buried by the Tyranny of the Urgent. That’s why a Business Maturity Date is so important – have a deadline by which the business will serve YOU, not the other way around.
I’m writing this while in NZ enjoying our Business Maturity Date celebration! Next time around we’ll make a stop in Australia – hope to meet you!