Tournament of Wants – Career

November 8, 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this exercise is to look through all the wants, desires, and dreams I have listed related to CAREER DEVELOPMENT and find out “Which one is most important to me now?” That is the ONLY question I am to consider. Not “I have to do this first” or “I’ll want this in 10 years…” “Which one is most important to me now?” That’s it. Each round will take two wants and get a winner, and then those winners will face off, and so on until there is only one thing. Let’s see where this goes.

Round 1

1.       Become influential in my area of business focus (8/9/10)

2.       Build an organized and useful contact list (8/10/10)

Become influential in my area of business focus.

3.       Build residual income: Start a NING site for home-service and fleet-based businesses with the expectation of building them a custom ticket / dispatch management solution. (Financial /Career Development)

4.       Continue working hard, but don’t feel or be bound to a 9-5 “schedule” that dictates what I do each day. (7/17/10)

Build residual income: Start a community site for private and municipal utilities and the contractors that serve them with the expectation of building core and customized components of a ticket / fleet / asset management and maintenance solution. (I’ve refined this goal a bit over the last few weeks)

5.       Define my company’s purpose and what we do in a specific, measurable statement. (7/23/10)

6.       Describe what I do in 1-2 sentences in a manner that is interesting and inspires followup. Do so in a manner that applies both to interested businesses and to individuals who just want to know what I do. (8/3/10)

Define my company’s purpose and what we do in a specific, measurable statement.

7.       Develop a catchy logo for my business (8/3/10)

8.       Develop a professional website for my company (8/9/10)

Develop a professional website for my company that includes the focus we are aiming for.

9.       Develop a reputation within my local area as a business where honesty, results, and solution finding are important. (8/9/10)

10.   Develop a software application from the ground up and a client base for it as a large part of the business. (7/16/10)

Develop a software application from the ground up and a client based for it as a large part of the business.

11.   Find an investor with an idea, and develop their product, start to finish. (7/31/10)

Find an investor with an idea, and develop their product, start to finish. (BYE)

12.   Find someone to invest money, time, and commitment in one of MY ideas. (9/22/10)

13.   Get a new customer originating from a cold call (8/3/10)

Get a new customer originating from a cold call (or a cold call based on a recommendation from).

14.   Give a seminar or teach a class on communicating with clients and finding solutions WITH them, not just FOR them. (8/3/10)

15.   Have a real office. Not just a corner of the spare bedroom. (7/18/10)

Give a seminar or teach a class on communicating with clients and finding solutions WITH them, not just for them. Perhaps even do this WITH the very clients you are considering working for.

16.   Help my wife open a restaurant (7/16/10)

17.   Open my eyes to alternate careers: Find a good book about the career of Christian counseling. (Financial /Career Development)

Help my wife open a restaurant.

18.   Patent something (7/23/10)

19.   Plan ahead for business finances: Create a “dream” and “bare minimum” budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at right now for the next 12 months. (Financial /Career Development)

Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months.

20.   Remove myself from responsibilities that are superficial to what I want to focus on and that could be better handled by someone else (8/7/10)

21.   Sell a piece of software to a larger company

Remove myself from responsibilities that are superficial to what I want to focus on and that could be better handled by someone else.

Round 2

1.       Become influential in my area of business focus.

2.       Build residual income: Start a community site for private and municipal utilities and the contractors that serve them with the expectation of building core and customized components of a ticket / fleet / asset management and maintenance solution. (I’ve refined this goal a bit over the last few weeks)

Build residual income: Start a community site for private and municipal utilities and the contractors that serve them with the expectation of building core and customized components of a ticket / fleet / asset management and maintenance solution. (I’ve refined this goal a bit over the last few weeks)

3.       Define my company’s purpose and what we do in a specific, measurable statement.

4.       Develop a professional website for my company that includes the focus we are aiming for.

Develop a professional website for my company that includes the focus we are aiming for.

5.       Develop a software application from the ground up and a client based for it as a large part of the business.

Develop a software application from the ground up and a client based for it as a large part of the business. (BYE)

6.       Find an investor with an idea, and develop their product, start to finish. (BYE)

7.       Get a new customer originating from a cold call (or a cold call based on a recommendation from).

Find an investor with an idea, and develop their product, start to finish.

8.       Give a seminar or teach a class on communicating with clients and finding solutions WITH them, not just for them. Perhaps even do this WITH the very clients you are considering working for.

9.       Help my wife open a restaurant.

Give a seminar or teach a class on communicating with clients and finding solutions WITH them, not just for them. Perhaps even do this WITH the very clients you are considering working for.

10.   Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months.

11.   Remove myself from responsibilities that are superficial to what I want to focus on and that could be better handled by someone else.

Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months.

Round 3

1.       Build residual income: Start a community site for private and municipal utilities and the contractors that serve them with the expectation of building core and customized components of a ticket / fleet / asset management and maintenance solution. (I’ve refined this goal a bit over the last few weeks)

2.       Develop a professional website for my company that includes the focus we are aiming for.

Develop a professional website for my company that includes the focus we are aiming for.

3.       Develop a software application from the ground up and a client based for it as a large part of the business. (BYE)

4.       Find an investor with an idea, and develop their product, start to finish.

Develop a software application from the ground up and a client based for it as a large part of the business.

5.       Give a seminar or teach a class on communicating with clients and finding solutions WITH them, not just for them. Perhaps even do this WITH the very clients you are considering working for.

6.       Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months.

Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months.

Round 4

1.       Develop a professional website for my company that includes the focus we are aiming for.

2.       Develop a software application from the ground up and a client based for it as a large part of the business.

Develop a professional website for my company that includes the focus we are aiming for.

3.       Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months.

Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months. (BYE)

Final Round

4.       Develop a professional website for my company that includes the focus we are aiming for.

5.       Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months. (BYE)

Plan ahead for business finances: Create a dream and bare-minimum budget for C2IT starting from the point I’m at now and out for the next 12 months.

Once again my “most important thing right now” seems to be to “get a handle on where I am.” Take care of some basics that are lacking, and then build on them. That’s where I am with this. This is probably going to be the first year my company breaks the quarter million mark in total sales, and while that’s awesome, I honestly don’t know why. I know God’s hand is in it, but there’s also something that has helped us to sell more services and products throughout the course of the year that led to that. Do we want a similar “dream-sized” goal for next year or something bigger/smaller? That’s what I want to be able to set. And then … ACHIEVE.