“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
I feel like that question gets deeper the older we get.
When you’re young, you may want to be a police officer, a firefighter, or an athlete because that’s what you see on TV (I definitely wanted to play on the Atlanta Braves growing up).
As you get into high school, you now will start making the “college decision.” Now the childhood question becomes a bit more complex:
- What do you want to be when you grow up? (aka. what should you study to become that person)
- What college will give you the best chance of being that person?
For me, and other entrepreneurs, as you continue growing your business, the question morphs yet again into other permutations:
- Where do you want this business to be in 3, 5, and 10 years?
- What do you want to be doing in 3, 5, and 10 years?
- Do you want to sell the business, stay in the “owner’s box,” or carve out a role for yourself in your business? (or some other option)
- And, the question that lays the foundation for all of this: why?
I was reading Rocket Fuel, and Gino Wickman made a great point about Visionaries:
No matter what the industry is, companies have different growth trajectories. For instance, a company wanting only 5% annual growth is going to require a lot less Visionary innovation than one seeking 100% annual growth.
Gino Wickman
Entrepreneurs (and more specifically Visionaries): It’s OK to not want to run a 7-, 8-, 9-figure business. You don’t need to be a Visionary who can launch your business into the stratosphere. Heck, you don’t even have to scale your business to that magical “one million dollar mark” to be labeled a success.
All you need is to be content and (if you are the main person putting food on the table for your family) make sure your family is taken care of.
