PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Today's lesson is short and sweet. I am sharing a final worksheet that pulls all 12 lessons together in two pages! This worksheet is like a Madlib. You will understand your business comprehensively if you can fill it in. And that is the key. Most initiatives are splintered, as I've been reiterating throughout this program. This will show you if you truly know how each aspect of your business: culture, vision, goal setting, leadership, financial planning, marketing, and operations relate to each other. If you need help answering some of these questions, you can go back through each lesson archived in the Resources Center. What's important is that you become disciplined enough to realize that you cannot move forward if you're unclear about one area of your business. Not sure what your financial goals are by revenue stream? Don't think about setting marketing goals. What are your marketing goals? Don't think about putting time and effort into marketing initiatives. Unsure of your leadership philosophy? Don't hire that manager you need until you're clear. Uncertain about your own job description? Don't build a team if you don't have clearly defined roles and training programs. Not sure about your long-term vision? Be wary of executing on anything :)
I know this year has been the toughest on DTC. We started this year discussing the end of the E-Comm Era, and that prediction has proven to be true. But what exactly did I mean by that? Well, not that it's impossible to run an E-Comm business, but that the falsehoods that drove that sector are finally glaringly obvious. (RIP Dims! Maybe the NFTs weren't the answer, lol). But we're moving beyond the trick-mirror era of entrepreneurship in general. And it's not only DTC that will be impacted. Whether you're product-based or service-based, whether you sell B2B or B2C, the reality of creating in this new economy requires much more genuine creativity, diversification as an antidote to scarcity, and responsibility. (Those are all links to previous newsletters on those topics if you want to dive deeper.) As the tagline of this program says: this is not a get-rich-quick scheme.
The word I have been meditating on most is REGENERATION. I'll write more about this in January when this newsletter returns from winter break. But times of transition are also times of opportunity. But you have to be willing to do the work. I reshare that newsletter with you to think about the mindset shifts you might need to make to enter into 2023 with the right approach.
Good luck as you wrap up your work on this miniMBA and close out the year. I hope you've learned more about yourself and your business throughout this process and used that to create the world you want to see in 2023!
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