Bookkeeping Expert Linda Grone: Strategy Defined – Purpose Driven

Every business plan should include your purpose for your business.  “Purpose not only defines what your business should do, it clearly defines what it shouldn’t do,” explains Rich Karlgaard of Forbes magazine online in his article, Purpose Driven(www.forbesonline.com/kaarlgaard).

This was first explained to in January of this year, after thirty years of owning several small businesses.  This was from my business mentor, Trent Poage, owner of AdPurpose (www.adpurpose.net) and a member of the League of Innovators.  He is a marketing strategist who also helps entrepreneurs create the ground work for their new business.  He suggested I think through the purpose of BookkeepingHQ (BHQ) thoroughly. This wasn’t an easy task. The difficulty for me was that this did not require numbers to put together or listing goals (that came later). Trent challenged me to look deep inside myself to find what I hoped to accomplish through BHQ. It would need to combine my work passion, my personality, and my core values.

Intrinsically, I believed whole-heartedly what Karlgaard said. I knew that running my business would be easier if I had the parameters for decision-making, especially financial, written down. I would be able to decide who my clients are, how much I charge, and who I hire. It would naturally create the boundaries of time management.

There are as many purposes for business as there are entrepreneurs. You may want dollars as your sole purpose. Karlgaard says that Dell’s owner, Michael Dell, explained to him that his business purpose was “to become the IBM of the 21^st century.”  Here are some other ideas:

• I want to love what I do.
• I want to live comfortably.
• I want to send my children to college.
• I want to retire at a young age.
• I want the freedom to work from home.
• I want more time to devote to my family/community/social awareness.
• I want to help single parent families.
• I want to give more money to my favorite charities, church, etc.
• I want to out-sell the competition.
• And many more…..

Karlgaard says that nothing is more important than your purpose.  If you have an unhealthy business right now, formulating this necessary component to success might get it healthy again.

Poage had me use this phrase to develop BHQ’s purpose: My business (BHQ) exists to ____________ __________ ______________.  The minimum is three words, which also helps keep it short and memorable.

BHQ’s purpose?  To help my clients become more successful by doing for them what they like least.

Now, it’s your turn.