Owner/Operator/Entrepreneur:

     When did you last think of your business as something abstract?  Let’s try it.  We’re just pretending here for a minute to see what we can learn so let’s –POOF!– make believe your business is a plant.  I know, you’re ready to call for the old white jacket.  But wait! 

     We (you) may shed some exciting new light on your business (maybe even on your SELF) when you might have come to think there is no light left to shed.  But let me urge you forward.  No one’s watching you, right?  Just go with the flow here a minute and see what jumps out at you?

     So, your business — how’s it growin’? 

     Did you grow it from seed?  Buy it as a seedling and nurture it?  Steal it from a neighbor’s yard and transplant it in your’s?  Take it from the woods nearby when nobody was looking?  Salvage it from someone else’s mistreatment?

     Does it get enough sun and water?  Are you constantly removing dead leaves?  Do you fertilize it?  Regularly?  When’s the last time you added topsoil?  Are there too many gardeners hanging around?

     Are the roots exposed?  Is it bearing fruit?  Does it have bugs?  Is it costing too much to maintain?  Have you pruned it lately?  Is the climate it’s in conducive to growth? 

     Are there creatures living in the branches?  Empty nests?  Too much insecticide?  Not enough?  Woodpecker problems? Is this a tree we’re talking about or a shrub?  How big?  How old?  How sturdy or frail?  Mulched?

     This shrub/tree/business of yours . . . is it . . . do you think of it or treat it like your child?  Your foster child?  Your adopted child?  Your surrogate child?  Your parent?  A brother or sister?  A long-lost cousin?  A ball and chain?

     Let’s examine this just one more step that will truly reveal the depths of your thinking and relationship with your business. 

     Ready?  Here’s what you need:  A piece of paper (any size) and a pen (a pencil or marker is fine).  Oh, right, and some self-honesty, okay? (You won’t need to turn this in to anyone but yourself to evaluate).

     Okay, respond to the following . . . If you could represent your business as a circle and yourself in relationship to your business also as a circle, how would you draw the two circles on that piece of paper you have in front of you? 

     Would they touch?  Overlap?  Be concentric?  Fit one inside the other?  By how much?  Be the same size?  Would the two circles be the same color?  Different thicknesses?  Dotted or solid lines?  Don’t you love all these questions?  [Diod you draw the circles yet?  What are you waiting for?  Go ahead; I’ll wait.  Good.) 

     Hey, nobody said entrepreneuring would be easy.  But, you know what?  It can be a whole lot easier than you’ve perhaps thought, simply by having a better handle on what your deep-down-insides truly feel about what your relationship with your business actually is. 

     Try it.  You’ll learn something new about yourself AND your business.  Maybe it’s time for the rake and plastic bag, or the prining shears. . . or the chainsaw!  Every little insight is insight!           halalpiar