Episode 437: Thinking Time - Design Your Business Before You Build It

What does a business blueprint really look like? What is it that I can— help me to give some structure into? Because it's one thing to say, hey, have a vision for your business. Okay, I've heard that before, but I don't have structure. I don't know how to do that. I think a business blueprint is 3 things. I think it's your 3-year vision, your 1-year objectives, and your 90-day priorities. Your 3-year vision, your 1-year objectives, and your 90-day priorities. Where is this business going over the next 3 years? Your blueprint today creates the business you want tomorrow.

What if you Step out of the day-to-day and see your business from a whole new perspective. Welcome to Above the Business, where we empower you to rise above the daily grind and embrace a higher way of business ownership. Get ready to build your business by design.

Are you an agency owner looking to better understand your financials and take charge of your tax bill? Well, Club Capital is here to help. As the largest accounting and advisory firm for insurance agency owners in the country, they are way more than your everyday run-of-the-mill CPA. Club Capital provides financial, CFO, and tax advisory services that help you plan and forecast your financial success. You'll meet every month to review your agency's financial performance, the difference between your profit and actual cash flow, along with helping you better understand your bottom line. Visit club.capital to book a solution overview with one of our business consultants. Club Capital, way more than a CPA firm.

Hey everyone, have you ever built a house from scratch. I don't mean like you've went and bought a house, but you actually bought a piece of land and then you went and started working with an architect. And what does the architect do? I mean, they're going to ask for, well, what are you looking for? And maybe potentially you went and got some of the blueprints from a house that you found online. Maybe you found it on Pinterest, Instagram, wherever, but you ultimately go to and you say, hey, we want to begin to make some changes. And you may have inspiration pieces that you're wanting to pull in. Maybe you're wanting to put in a certain type of kitchen and you want it to be spacious. Maybe you want it to be open floor plan. Maybe you're looking for a certain style— Tudor, cottage. Maybe you're looking for maybe more of a mountain rustic log cabin look that you're going for. Maybe it's more transitional of a house that you're looking for. You have some picture in your mind and you want to begin to pull all of these elements into it. Do you want white color cabinets? Do you want What type of floors, what color floors do you want? What about the lights? What about the different bath and kitchen fixtures that are going to be in it? All of it. And so many more things, but there's things that you like and things that you don't like. And it's the combination of pulling all of that together and getting it out that ultimately the architect is going to begin to sketch up. Maybe they're taking some rough draft of what it is, but ultimately what architects use. They use a blueprint. And this is important because it's first they have to get an understanding and a vision of what it is that you're wanting to be able to build. And then ultimately, when those blueprints are created, you can go about then the building process of the house. Clearly, it would be ridiculous to think that you're going to take— you're going to find a piece of land and they're going to go to a contractor, a home builder, and say, start building. And they're going to start building the footers and then they're going to start laying some of the block and putting in the fill and the plumbing. And then they're going to come to you and say, well, we've got a square with some plumbing coming out of it. It's in the wrong places. We don't know. Maybe it's in the right places, but we just started to build. And you say, no, no, no, that's not what I was looking for. What you just told us to build because we didn't have anything to build off of. I think you know where this is going. Ultimately, business owners need a blueprint too. You need a blueprint for growing your business. So when we think about your business blueprint, I think thinking and planning come first. It's the design process of what it is that you ultimately want. You're not going to just default. And I think our business, often we kind of default. We just start going and then we don't really know, wait a minute, what are we actually trying to do here? What am I trying to build? That certainly was the case for me. Just run hard. Just work your tail off. And then we'll figure it out from there. Well, there's time and place that that's okay. Sure. But ultimately, what does a business blueprint really look like? What is it that I can— help me to give some structure into it? Because it's one thing to say, hey, have a vision for your business. Okay, I've heard that before, but I don't have structure. I don't know how to do that. I think a business blueprint is 3 things. I think it's your 3-year vision, your 1-year objectives, and your 90-day priorities. Your 3-year vision, your 1-year objectives, and your 90-day priorities. Where is this business going over the next 3 years? 3— over the next 3 years, where are you trying to go? And if you're listening to this, you've never created a 3-year vision, you'd have 25, 26, 27. In December of 2027, where do you want your business to be? That's number 1. Number 2, what do we need to do in 2025? Number 3, what do we need to do in these next 90 days, these 90-day priorities? 3-year vision, 1-year objectives, 90-day priorities. And the reality is you don't have to choose between And I don't recommend you choose between designing and building. It's both. But I think design comes first. Then you go about the building process. Okay. So what do you do then? I've talked about having a business blueprint before. Look, when I work with my one-to-one coaching clients in their business, there's a 4-step process that we use for success. Step 1 is we get a really good understanding of point A. You know where you are. Each one of these that I'm about to go over, by the way, has so much depth into it. It's going to sound very easy and look, it is easy when you were having someone to guide you through it. But there's so much nuance and information that goes into each one of these. Number 1, know where you are. Point A, where are you today? There's so many things around metrics and understanding your team and structure and compensation and your financials, et cetera, that go into point A. But where are you today? Taking an honest look at the business. Don't guess, dig into the details, know your numbers. That's point A and that's step number 1. Step number 2 is you've gotta be able to picture the compelling future. Where is it that you're trying to go? What is point B? Design what you want your business to look like, which is exactly what we just talked about previously. That is the epitome. Your point B is your business blueprint. Step number 3 You need to make a plan. We gotta have a plan for how we're gonna get from where we are today to where we want to be. And look, different timelines and resources are required depending on where you start and depending on where you're going. And in business, that looks like if you're at $750,000 in revenue, you want to go to a million, well, that looks a lot different than a business that's at $100,000 trying to go to a million. They're completely different plans. If I'm starting in Huntsville and I'm trying to get to the Lakers game, that's going to be in LA, that is very different than if I'm starting in Cupertino trying to get to the Lakers game. Different timelines and resources are required depending on where I'm starting and where it is I'm trying to go. And then obviously, number 4, we got to go install it and execute. You got to put the plan into motion. You got to get the team buy into that. So step number 1, you got to know where you are today, point A. Step number 2, point B, where is it we're trying to go in the future? That is your business blueprint. Step number 3, We got to make a plan. We've got a vision of the future, but we got to make a plan to be able to get there. Step number 4, we got to go install it and execute. We actually got to go do the thing. And so my hope is, is that giving you an idea of that 4-step process and a reminder of what it means to actually have a compelling future for your business and how both the designing process and the building process work hand in hand. Look, there are some common challenges that can come with this. I think number one is lack of clarity. I think business owners think that they have an understanding of where they are and where they're going. But to be honest with you, it's vague and undocumented at best. I think you can have a lot of blind spots there. I think also getting an outside perspective. Sometimes you can't read the label from inside the jar. You got to be able to have somebody else to speak into. And that absolutely includes me too. I need somebody else to be able to speak into me and my businesses and help me to be able to see the blind spots I wouldn't see. And then it's also, say, unrealistic timelines, thinking that I'm going to be able to get a business from $100,000 to $1 million. I'm going to do it in a year. Sure. Has it happened? Absolutely. Of course. But I have to be realistic about the resources that I have at my disposal— time, money, energy, effort, etc. to be able to make that happen. Be realistic about the timelines and the resources that's required to be able to get there. So look, if you want to be able to build a business that runs without you, you start by becoming its architect. You design first and then you build. You get clear on where you are, point A. You set a vision for where you're going, point B. You create a plan to get there and then you execute to make it real. Your blueprint today creates the business you want tomorrow. Lead well and go be great. And by the way, if you want our exact blueprint, we help business owners go from being the operator to owner. I'd love to have you join me at my most upcoming web class. Go to blueprintos.com/assets. ArtofOne, till next episode, go be great.

You know how important it is to develop yourself and to develop your team? Well, if you're going to do that, you want to do it with the best. Work with Coach P Consulting to learn and implement the same strategies that he used to sell over 700 life policies in 2021 alone. You'll get personalized coaching 2 times a week and an in-depth look at how his office is run, and Coach Peen will train your team alongside his own. Get your first month free when you mention the Club Capital Leadership Podcast during signup. Visit coachpeenconsulting.com to get started.