(Originally posted June 26, 2009)

Growing your business starts with a vision of what you want to be in 5, 10, even 20 years. With a clear vision, you can set a direction (plan) to take you there. With a vision and a plan you can move into action. Action is everything. A vision exists only in your head. A plan is only a bunch of words on paper. Action is reality.

Vision, direction and action are ingredients for sustainable, repeatable success. If you have only a vision you don’t have any way to get there. If you have only a plan you don’t know where you are going. If you have only action your efforts are scattered. Putting them all together significantly improves your odds of success.

The first key to building your business is creating a business plan that details your vision, direction and action plans. Your business plan will identify your target markets and target customers so that you can develop a rational program for soliciting new business.

For the purpose of this series, we will assume that you have a well written business plan and a list of prospective customers that fit your plan. My next post will discuss how to get in the door.

Doug