I coach entrepreneurs all the time on creating a game plan for the future. A few months back, I worked with an inventor that had a billion dollar idea…but it was just an idea. How do you take an idea and turn it into a billion dollar company? Today’s Q&A Series video dives into this question.
Focus on what you have to do today!
Sometimes we get so focused on the future that we lose sight of the here and now. It’s great to be excited about the potential of a project or new company, but determine the major gates so you can create a process to move forward. Major gates are absolutes and they must be passed before you take the next step, like:
- What does product development look like?
- Does my business plan make sense?
- Does anyone want my product?
- Do I have the resources needed to scale this product?
Whether you’re building the next billion dollar company or working on a new project, determining the major gates will keep you focused and on track.
Chris – this is exactly where I am with writing! Very similar to our conversations – Thanks for the reminder brother! Happy Thursday!
Major gates can also be carried over to many different aspects of life. Great advice Chris! Thank you!
I agree!!! I think a helpful to look at this is have a vision of where you want to be, get clear on the mission that will get you there, set up goals and give those goals action steps (aka. major gates).
Very difficult to not focus on the “next big thing”! A great reminder of how important it is to get today right, so you have an opportunity at tomorrow.
What keeps me focused on the current job is to remind myself that great giants in my life whether companies or people I admire had a small starting point. It is brick by brick layer by layer process. Then I write a list and figure out which brick needs to go up next. Thanks for the reminder!
Great advice. Helps me to reel it back in and focus on what is current.
Thanks!
This is very helpful. I need to identify the gates I have to open and take specific steps to do that. It’s a lot easier than getting overwhelmed with what will happen a year from now. It’s so easy to want to get it all done now! Thanks for the clarity!
You are so right Chris. Vision is very important but we need to focus on what we need to do today. Back February I wrote a blog post on why the “Big Picture is Overrated” – Our visions can be overwhelming so that we don’t know where to start. – For me I have to make sure that each day I act on what I can do today. In reality today is the only one that matters.
Its definitely easy to get caught up in the excitement of the future or the end product. The common message I’ve been hearing lately between your post and others pod cast is, “whats important for today and how does this help me plan for the future.” or stop spinning your wheels and burning up gas. Ease up on the peddle so you can get traction to move forward.
This was very helpful to me today. I’m feeling so overwhelmed right now with some challenges in my family business and the thing I need to remember most from this video is that I have to prioritize the things that are important for today if I want to reach future goals. Sometimes trying to prioritize is the killer though when there are so many things that simply must be fixed/changed/organized ASAP and it’s difficult to know where to start first. I just have to keep calm and remember that I can’t overhaul a 34-year-old business overnight. Thank you for your insight, Chris!
I love the idea of gates. I’m looking at them in terms of what needs to be maintained now, and done well NOW, so that the idea can be grown slowly from now till the future when it can happen.