In this solo podcast episode, Bradley Hamner reflects on recent extensive travel—driving cross‑country, flying to New York, and attending a client retreat—to illustrate how business journeys rarely follow a straight line. He uses map metaphors (interstate vs scenic routes, in‑flight navigation) to show that even when a path appears linear on paper, real‑world execution involves forks, detours, and constant off‑course adjustments. Hamner argues that a clear roadmap or blueprint is essential for recentering when these deviations occur. He emphasizes the value of keeping an analog, physical version of the roadmap alongside digital tools, noting that simply seeing a written goal can refocus the mind amid distractions. The core of his framework is a three‑tiered goal‑setting system he calls the "3‑1‑90" blueprint: a 3‑year vision, 1‑year OKRs, and quarterly (90‑day) targets. This structure helps leaders align long‑term aspirations, yearly objectives, and short‑term actions, while also clarifying personal role, desired lifestyle, and profitability goals. Throughout, Hamner shares concrete business examples—mis‑hired staff, marketing setbacks, production dips—to demonstrate how unexpected events can derail plans, reinforcing why a roadmap that can be revisited is vital. The episode concludes with a call to listeners to adopt such a roadmap to stay on course toward their business destination.
Chapters
Hey everyone, well, the last few weeks I've traveled more than really I had in a long, long time. I was in New York City, New York, Long Island area twice. I was in Missouri for our retreat with our clients, which was amazing to, to be with them, and I may share some of the kind of learnings from that trip. But point is Had some long drives, 9-hour drive to Missouri, 9-hour drive back. Uh, been in several planes, went up to New York to watch the Mets-Dodgers game with my son, which I mentioned in another podcast. And so I've had a lot of travel recently. And what's interesting about that is that whether you're flying or whether you're driving, there's always some sort of, uh a map that you're following. When I was driving to Missouri, I mean, clearly I was using Google Maps or Apple Maps, whatever, and I was deciding which way to go. And actually, as I was going through Arkansas, whenever we were trying to get to the— basically the Branson Big Cedar Lodge area, there were a couple of different ways to go. One was a little bit shorter in mileage, but it was going to take less interstate, so it's going to take a little, little bit longer, or I could have gone more of a scenic route. And so it's interesting when you get to that place that you actually have to make a decision, and they were both basically right at, uh, effectively the same arrival time, even though getting there was going to be a little bit different. And so you're at this like fork in the road, and it's like, well, am I going to go the interstate route? Am I going to try to go more of the back roads scenic route on the way there. I went interstate route way back, took more of the two-lane, four-lane roads on the way back just to see different parts of the country. On the flight to New York, we were on Delta, and they have the, uh, in-flight entertainment that's in the back of the seat. And you know, you can do the flight maps, so There was— Cooper was watching a video, I was watching the iPad, watching, um, the new basketball documentary. He ended up watching Top Gun: Maverick on his, and then on mine he wanted to turn the in-flight map on to see the direction that we were going. And what's interesting about that map is you don't see a straight line from Atlanta to New York. So we flew into— connected in Atlanta and then ultimately flew into LaGuardia. You don't see it as a straight line. The plane is kind of always constantly a little bit off course, veering back, a little bit off course, veering back. I think our journeys in business are the exact same way. I think that when we put things in paper And we say, what is the path to a million-dollar business look like? Well, it's super easy to reverse engineer some of the numbers. Well, this is how many customers I have today. This is how many customers I need it to be. This is what the customers would be worth. And so if we have this many customers paying us this much, then regardless of the business that you're in, this is what we, we would be able to do $1 million in top line revenue. Or if I'm at $1 million and I'm wanting to figure out what the path is to $3 million, here's what it looks like. And so it's really easy on paper to be— sometimes people call it an Excel millionaire, or your business can be doing— can be a million-dollar business, and it's fairly easy to do that on Excel. But the reality is anything but that. There are detours and forks in the road where we have to decide almost sometimes last minute. Wait a minute, am I going to go this way? Am I going to go this way? Also, like the plane, we're constantly off course slightly. Planes, when they fly, if they take off from Atlanta to New York and New York to LA, it's never a straight line. And what's interesting is I think whether it's social media, or just even people whenever you're around, you go to conferences, whenever they are reflecting back, I don't think there's ever an intentionality to make it feel like there was a straight line from where they were to where they are, because it never is actually like that. It is always slight deviations, and sometimes there's even big deviations. Sometimes we make the wrong decision and we decide to go the interstate Well, 30 minutes later into that trip, there's a massive wreck on the interstate and you're backed up for hours, maybe even have to stop. And you start to regret it. Wow, I wish I would have taken that other path. In business, that can look like a lot of different things. One, it can look like this is the hire that I need to make, only to find out that they didn't work out and they leave within 90 days, and we've smashed a Rolex in the business. It stings. It hurts. There inevitably— even if you have a roadmap that you're running the business on, you're inevitably going to get off course. But the fact that you have a roadmap for your business allows you that when you inevitably do get off course you're able to begin to come back to it. So what are some of the elements that make up a roadmap and something you go back to? I think it, I think it can be several things. I think, and I may end up doing a podcast on this later on, but I've leaned more recently into analog, things that I can actually carry around with me. I've spent less time in the digital world. Now, look, I'm on Zoom quite a bit, but I'm talking about with where I'm actually looking at my goals and targets and objectives in the business and what it is I'm trying to do. And I've spent more time analog. Again, I'll talk more about that maybe in a future episode, but carrying something around, even when I'm unpacking the bag or packing my backpack or my briefcase on a daily basis, having it in there, there's something about even seeing it, even if I don't open the thing, helps to recenter what is it I'm trying to do. Where are we today? What are we trying to accomplish in the business? And what it allows, I believe, is whenever you're following something, and when that something is both in a digital version and as an analog version, a written version that you're carrying with you, I think it helps to recenter. I think it helps to recenter us. I think it helps to recenter our brain because there's so many distractions in the air. There's weather, there's other planes, there's who knows what other things that they're— turbulence that they're constantly navigating and bringing the plane back from. They're going in different elevations from 35,000 feet to 28,000 feet and everything in between to try to find smoother air. And I think the exact same thing is true with our business. We hit bumps in the road. We have, uh, the marketing is not working like we thought it was going to. We— the sales team is struggling, production starts to dip. Um, you go— come out of summer, uh, from whenever everybody was going with vacations, and you were going with vacations And so what's the thing that kind of re-centers you? I ultimately think it's that you follow some sort of a roadmap, something that you can look back on and say, yes, that's right. Whenever I put that down, when I was clear-headed, said exactly this is what I want out of my business. Now, one of the things specifically around your business is what we believe, I believe that you should have is a business blueprint. A blueprint for your business specifically around 3 things. And some people refer to this as our goal setting framework. I've talked about that on here before, that I don't specifically use the word goals very much, but 3-year vision, 1-year OKRs, and quarterly targets. 3-year vision, 1-year OKRs, and quarterly targets. Or sometimes we'll say it short: 3-year, 1-year, 90. 3-year, 1-year, 90. 3, 1, 90. And when you get into that habit, having something to say, where is it I'm trying to go 3 years? What am I trying to do this year? What are we trying to do this quarter? Kind of bring— it kind of begins to bring you back. And I think what a roadmap does is it gives you that, but it also helps you to kind of see even past that. Where am I? Where am I going to try to get this business to where I want to try to— where I'm trying to get it? What's my role specifically in the business? What am I doing today? What I really want to be doing in the future? How much time off do I really want to take in the business? Do I know how much time I'm taking off in the business? I mean, who doesn't want a business that is, you know, growing, profitable? You're doing things you love to do in the business and you're taking time off. I mean, every— all of us to do. It's what we signed up for, quote unquote, the American dream, so to speak. It is that, and sometimes it feels anything but it, but that. So the point of this episode is that a— what a roadmap for your business does is it, it kind of brings you back to center, brings you back on course, I believe, to what your destination is. I mean, it's probably happened before, but I doubt very many people have ever walked— gone to an airport and said, "Give me the next ticket out of here. I don't care where it is." I know it's probably happened before. I'm sure it's in movies, but realistically, you wouldn't do that. I mean, it sounds fun spontaneously, especially if you live in a place where, you know, you got a big airport. In Huntsville, we would be connecting somewhere first. So then I'd have to have 2 tickets if I wanted to do something like that. But we don't do that, and we just certainly do that— don't do that in business. But a lot of times it can kind of feel that way. I'm just going, I'm just in the vehicle of my business running. Where are you running to and where are you running from? I would call that point A Point B. Where are you today? Where are you trying to go? And what's your roadmap that's going to keep you on course? Because inevitably you'll get off course, you'll get off track, but a roadmap can begin to bring you back. I hope this helped you today. Till next time, lead well and go be great.
