Future Pacing: Working on the New You With a Business Growth Consultant

Entrepreneurial and life goals coincide in ways many other goals do not. For entrepreneurs, life goals are tied to entrepreneurial dreams, and these goals take the entrepreneur and her family for the ride of their lives. At the beginning of the journey, a flood of positive emotions of hope, dreams of making it, feeling of independence, and excitement engulf the entrepreneur. 

In the first leg of the journey, some pain sets in as the realization of the limitations on resources set in; time, money, and necessary relationships, are just three of the hurdles entrepreneurs face during this stage. In the second stage of the journey, the entrepreneur starts to experience enhanced pain and doubt raises its ugly head. If the entrepreneur does not have a good business growth consultant to help navigate the phases of the entrepreneurial process, the doubt grows into crippling fear, devastating the entrepreneur and, many times, family members.

YOU 2.0
Skilled business growth consultants and coaches have many tools in their tool belts to help budding and seasoned entrepreneurs. One of the most important tools is future pacing the entrepreneur to help her create a vision of herself usually 5-10 years into the future (YOU 2.0), and helping her build a bridge from now to then. Because the entrepreneur’s business is usually an integral part of her vision of herself, it is necessarily included in the journey from YOU 1.0 to YOU 2.0. 

The process begins with the consultant/coach helping the entrepreneur create a detailed vision of YOU 2.0 self. This includes the creation of an avatar for the entrepreneur that encompasses her YOU 2.0 physical self, emotional self, spiritual self, the knowledge she has accumulated, the relationships she has, her home, her business, her skills, and everything else that she envisions herself being. Once done, the consultant/coach helps the entrepreneur to reinforce this idea of her YOU 2.0 so that it becomes her life mission. The process turns to an assessment of the entrepreneur’s personal development matrix, so that she can take an honest look at herself. The matrix analyzes the entrepreneur’s core:

• Knowledge
• Skills
• Abilities
• Disciplines
• Dedication
• Focus
• Beliefs
• Values
• Health
• Experiences
• Rules
• Relationship with herself

The result is usually a clear understanding of the entrepreneur’s personal strengths and weaknesses. This can be an eye-opening process for entrepreneurs, and serve as a “reality check.” Simply put, if you do not know where you are, it does not matter where you are going.

Current Relationship Matrix
After the personal assessment is complete, the consultant/coach helps the entrepreneur focus on developing a current relationship matrix. The focus here is primarily external with a focus on the entrepreneur’s relationships, finances, physical assets, other resources, opportunities, and external threats or roadblocks.

With a good understanding of the entrepreneur’s current state, the consultant/coach can then move onto helping develop a future identity, her YOU 2.0. Once this future identity is developed and the entrepreneur has a vivid image of her future self, she works with the consultant/coach to set reasonable and realistic goals each month and year (with yearly themes) which, once achieved, will get her that much closer to her YOU 2.0. As she travels through the process, she transforms into the version of herself she sees, and consistently re-evaluates her YOU 2.0, upgrading her model self annually, chasing her future with relentless passion.

This passion and thirst for growth and development spills over into the entrepreneur’s business and family, so they all grow together, consistently helping each other reach their YOU 2.0. 

Future pacing is just one of the planning tools offered by the business growth consultants through the Private Corporate Counsel Program. If you would like to learn more, call us at 407-647-7887 or schedule a consultation.