Freedom for Founders
Years ago, I learned from a mentor that what founders really want more than anything else is freedom.
The freedom we want falls into four categories: time, money, relationships and purpose.
- Freedom of time means you decide how to spend your time.
- Freedom of money means you aren’t constrained by how much you’re earning.
- Freedom of relationships means you decide whom you hang out with, personally and professionally.
- Freedom of purpose means you decide what the real purpose and meaning of your life is, and you decide whether the things you’re doing are advancing that meaning and purpose.
That’s why we left the comfort and security of working for someone else, why we leapt into the morass of uncertainty that is entrepreneurship: for freedom.
Freedom Exercise
Here’s an exercise I love to do:
First, specifically define your goals in each of the four freedom areas. My freedom-of-time goal, for example, involves living abroad for 1–6 months out of the year, and doing creative work for 3–4 hours each day, most days.
Repeat this action for each of the freedoms.
Next, draw a circle and divide it into fourths, like a pie.
Put one of those freedoms into each of those pie sections and then draw a line through each slice for the level of freedom you have today, with the middle point of the circle representing zero freedom and the outer circumference of the circle representing 100-percent freedom in that area. One hundred percent freedom is whatever that means to you from your definition of that freedom.
Color the bottom portion of each piece of the pie.
Now, what needs to happen in your business and in your personal life to fill in the complete circle?
There are definitely a number of people you’ll need to add. There will be some amount of technology, a bunch of delegation, elimination and automation that you will need. Figure it out and execute.
That model has served me well over the years.
Who is my mentor? Strategic Coach. I’ve been a member for six years and it’s been transformative.
Some Bonus Information!
Join Strategic Coach Kristi Chambers for a live event on June 15 at Corporate College in Cleveland, presented jointly by the Cleveland chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization and the Greater Cleveland Partnership Middle Market Forum. What are you doing that day? Register here to attend.
The core purpose of everyone at Gertsburg Licata—the reason we get out of bed in the morning to come to work here—is to “Create Freedom and Growth for Entrepreneurs and their Ventures.” Everything we do serves that purpose. Here’s to more freedom for you in the near future!
Turbocharge Your Small Business Productivity
May marks National Small Business Month, a significant occasion to honor and acknowledge the immeasurable contributions made by small businesses to the economy. Small business owners, recognizing the significance of efficiency and productivity in thriving within a competitive market, can now leverage the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in this era of digitalization. We found three AI developments that can revolutionize your small business, streamlining operations, optimizing processes, and achieving greater productivity within shorter timeframes.
- Google’s New AI Feature for Emails: Google announced a new AI feature for Gmail called “help me write.” With one click, this AI-generated tool will write out complete emails after the user types just a few words. Users can then edit and customize the wording and modify the email’s tone 11.
- ActiveCampaign’s AI-Powered Content Generation: ActiveCampaign, a marketing and automation platform, introduced an AI enhancement tool that will further refine the way businesses reach their customers. This tool, which employs “natural language processing,” crafts different messaging templates tailored to the user’s campaign 2 2.
- Scribe AI for Business Documentation: Scribe, a knowledge management software company, launched Scribe AI to automate business documentation. This advanced AI technology provides accurate transcription and content generation, saving time and improving efficiency for businesses 33.
Check them out and contact us to let us know the apps and tools you use to to help your business grow . . . we may feature you and your recommendation in a future Random Fix!
