Do you know exactly where your business is going? Do you know which activities you need to be focusing on and what challenges to expect next? If your answer to any or all of these questions is “no,” then you are right where even the best entrepreneurs have been. There is hope.
One of the most vexing problems for most entrepreneurs is that they don’t have a clear path to follow in their business. It can be surprisingly hard to know what success looks like. But as the old saying goes, if you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else.
So, as entrepreneurs we need to figure out where we are going, then we can figure out how to get there and how to take others with us.
Most small business entrepreneurs don’t necessarily set out with a clear destination in mind. If they did, this would be easier.
It’s relatively straightforward to leave a port of departure, board a ship and follow a map to your destination. But for many entrepreneurs that metaphor does not hold. For them, it’s more like they jumped off a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean and boarded a life raft. They don’t know exactly where they are going, but anywhere is better than the bottom of the sea. At least at first. Once rations run low, there are no visible landmarks, and no rescue in sight, some begin to question even that assertion.
But to get where we want to go, we’ve got to understand where we are. For navigating out of the waters of crises and into the sea of success, we need something to help chart the course – something that can tell us what to aim for first and what to expect next.
In the very beginning, one objective for the entrepreneur is often crystal clear: make more money. That can be tough enough. But the businessperson who succeeds at that objective, inevitably begins asking deeper questions.
What is the ultimate goal here? Where am I taking my business? Is money all I can hope to gain? Are there other, perhaps even greater, rewards available?
If you are in the early stages of a venture, some of these questions can appear premature. But if you are fortunate enough to achieve some success, these are the questions you will naturally begin asking.
Dave Ramsey’s Entreleadership team has spent considerable time asking and seeking answers to these questions.
As a result, they have outlined the Entreleadership Framework: 5 stages that every entrepreneur must move through. If you are familiar with Ramsey’s material, you might think of them as “business baby steps.” They are as follows:
1. The Treadmill Operator
2. The Pathfinder
3. The Trailblazer
4. The Peak Performer
5. The Legacy Builder
As a growth-minded entrepreneur these are the stages you will inevitably encounter. Even if you are in an early stage currently, it will be immensely helpful to know what to expect next. That’s why I find this framework so valuable. It will help you understand where you are and then get where you want to go.
Progressing through each sequential stage requires the entrepreneur to develop different skills and prioritize different activities.
Each stage poses unique challenges, but at the heart of things, in each phase the entrepreneur is really just answering a different key question:
The Treadmill Operator asks, “How do I keep my business afloat and my head above water?”
It’s good to run on a treadmill, but you can’t do it forever. People who never get off burn up.
The Pathfinder asks, “Where do I want my business to go?”
This question has to do with direction. They say not all who wander are lost, but if you never stop wandering, you are lost.
The Trailblazer asks, “How do I get my business there?”
Once you have determined a direction and began narrowing down a destination, it’s time to start moving that way. You will need help though. The good news is, people want to be taken somewhere. If you know where, and how to get there, they will follow you.
The Peak Performer asks, “How do I make my business thrive to its potential?”
Once you know what works, its time to refine and grow. This is a gratifying place to be. Things begin to happen not because you directly caused them, but because you cast a vision and put people and systems in place that work. Here, getting better becomes its own reward. It’s not about the money, it’s about being the best you can be.
The Legacy Builder asks, “How do I make my business thrive without me and my legacy outlive me?”
None of us get to live forever on this planet, but our impact can far outlive our life. This stage is others focused. For that reason, it can be the most rewarding.
Think of each successful venture that you know of and you will see that they are somewhere on this continuum. In the most successful cases, the founder may be dead or gone and yet the business still prospers. On the opposite end, we probably all know plenty of treadmill operators. They are always sweaty and stressed.
If you are currently a treadmill operator, the legacy builder phase can feel so distant that it isn’t even worth thinking about. But take heart! Every legacy builder was once a treadmill operator themselves.
It’s important to keep in mind that these stages were not invented. They were discovered. It may be even more accurate to say they were mined or developed. They are natural and pursuing them out of order can be frustrating and fruitless. My own experiences and observations confirm their existence. Speed of progress can vary for everyone, but understand that you can’t get to the next level without passing through the previous one.
In the beginning, attempting to “chart the course” of your business can seem almost silly. You have more pressing things to worry about. I get that. But if you begin to have even a mild amount of success, direction can quickly become a major concern. As early as possible, it’s wise to begin mapping out where you are going.
No matter how long you’ve been in business or where you are on your journey, its critical to always know which stage you are in so you can be asking yourself the key question. Answering that question will determine what activities you need to be prioritizing and what skills you need to be developing. This will allow you to accomplish the objectives which will move you and your business to the next level.
Internalize these stages and don’t miss out on the opportunity to benefit from those who have taken this journey ahead of you and graciously left a clear path to follow.
