I recently released a podcast episode with Clint Pulver, and he said, “Live a life of significance and not a life of success.”
It made me think of the coaching we do at The Covenant Group, and it reminded me that the most successful professionals and entrepreneurs we work with focuses on a life of meaning. They focus on significance, and it is not until you start to make a difference in other people’s lives that you find success.
Let me break down the Entrepreneurial Journey for you:
Starting the Journey
When you begin your business journey, the first step is called Survival. It’s like trying to find the right path through a dense forest. You try many different paths to see which one is the best, kind of like solving a puzzle. Sometimes you might not find the right path right away, but you keep looking until you discover a path that leads you forward.
Growing Your Business
After finding your path, you enter the Success stage. This is when your business starts to grow really fast, like a balloon filling up with air. It’s exciting to see it get bigger, but you have to make sure it doesn’t pop! This growth is often because you’ve started to make people’s lives better in some way, which is a secret to really doing well.
Keeping It Strong
Next comes Sustainability. This stage is about making sure your business can keep going strong, like learning to keep a kite flying high in the sky. You need to keep adjusting the string and running with the wind to keep it up. This means changing and improving as you go along.
The Big Secret: Making a Difference
The most special part is finding out the big secret: Significance. This is when you realize your business is not just about making money, but about making a difference in people’s lives. You’ve found a special way to help people, and that’s why your business grew and continues to grow. It’s like discovering a treasure on your adventure.
You need to go through all the earlier steps to get here, but once you do, it’s the best feeling! What we often do not realize when we find success is that baked in that success was because you found a way to be significant to someone else. Now with some distance, you can appreciate it.
Sharing Your Treasure
The last step is Succession. It’s like deciding who will be the next captain of your ship. You want someone who can take your business and keep making it do great things. Planning this early means your business can keep sailing smoothly, even when you’re not the captain anymore.
Being an entrepreneur is a big, exciting adventure. You start by finding your way, grow by helping people, keep your business strong, discover the treasure of making a difference, and then share your treasure with someone else to continue the journey.
The secret to the whole adventure is that making people’s lives better is what leads to true success and significance.
In my book, Strategy to Action: Run Your Business Without It Running You, I introduce an effective and straightforward tool to elevate your skills as a business professional and navigate the corporate world. The book offers practical insights on transforming strategies into tangible results.