I have a workshop called Turn Your Mission Into a Business. The end result is the discovery of a business that you can do… doing things you love to do… in a way that makes money for you. (If this sounds like something you might be interested in, pop on over to the website.) In the course of working with a participant, I said some things that I think you might find useful, as well.
Remember to keep the end in mind… a business that you love, that you love to do, and that will make you money (at a level that you find acceptable… whatever your definition of that is — which may change over time.) If you aren’t already loving what you do to make money (at least 70 percent of the time… higher is better), then you aren’t there, yet.
One of the reasons for finding/describing your business in terms of how it relates to your mission, is that your mission energizes you. There are plenty of things in a job and in business that drain you and drag at you. When your job or business is generally in alignment with your mission, the energy can transfer from the one and provide the impetus to help you get through the parts that drain and drag.
Are there parts of a business (or even a job, for that matter) that you won’t enjoy? Yes, certainly. Almost all small, startup business owners have to do almost everything related to the business, at the first. And, down the road, the goal is to be able to farm out all the parts that you don’t want to do, keeping the fun parts for yourself. Part of this process (of finding a business that aligns with your mission) is to help you figure out in advance what the fun parts are so you aren’t outsourcing 90 percent of the business… because some of the leftover will be administrative stuff, not the fun stuff. (And if you find the administrative stuff fun, then open a business just doing administrative stuff.)
Another side benefit of turning your mission into a business is that your mission statement is already written (almost). Since the business will be a subset of your personal mission (life purpose, aim in life, calling, whatever words you choose to call it), the business mission and statement will be a subset, as well. (Check out the article Do You Have a Mission Statement? on one of my websites for more about mission statements and what they can do for your business.)
Have you found your mission? Is your business a subset of your mission? Tell us about it (use the comments box.)