It wasn’t until I opened the “doors” to my Virtual Assistant business that I realized just how important having a business vision was; that ultimate dream or goal to strive towards. I also quickly realized just how important it is to maintain the flexibility, as a business owner, to adapt that vision to the changes, in both myself and my business, as we both grew. Even more importantly, I learned just how key it is to take the time to enjoy your journey to success.

Thanks to a program offered by my local Small Business Centre, I learned the significance of creating a solid business plan that would tell me if the ideas and dreams I had created would be feasible. In that same program, they talked about how important it was to continually review and revise our plans. I believe, as small business owners, the need to ensure our business plan doesn’t start to collect dust is not just to keep it up-to-date, but also to see just how far we have come. I don’t think we give ourselves enough time and credit to take a step back and see what we have accomplished. We spend so much time worrying about where our business is headed and looking at our vision, we forget to take a step back and be thankful for where we have come.

For myself, if someone had told me when I first envisioned my “business dream” I would have the successes in my business I have seen, I would never have believed them. I believe much of that success has come from taking the time to look backwards and enjoy my accomplishments, both big and small and to use those accomplishments as a motivation to continually move forward.

Since I set my expectations for myself and my business high, had I only taken the time to focus on my business vision and where I wanted to go, I may have found myself feeling it was taking a long time to get there. I believe this may have made the ride a lot more like an uphill climb. Instead, I enjoyed the ride and all the hills along the way. Remember the butterfly feeling you get from a roller coaster ride or from riding down a hilly road quickly? When is the last time you felt that in your business?