Realizing Our Dreams - Why You Absolutely Need a Plan

If you’ve been following my activities lately you know that I’m neck deep in startup logistics along with my five fearless partners. We’ve endured several intense months of planning, development, design, and countless inane details that end up becoming vitally important if you neglect them. As the saying goes, with great pain comes great pleasure and we’ve had plenty of fun and excitement along the way. Nothing will be as thrilling as seeing our baby launch in less than a week. But as I sit in a plush Starbucks chair, I can’t help but think about the windy road that led me to this place today. I’m literally living a dream that was set in motion a few years ago when I made the decision to walk away from a cushy corporate gig to experience the American dream - owning my own business.

My tenure at RadioShack had surpassed 12 years and I was at my breaking point. I despised much of the management team who flushed any semblance of a positive working environment down the drain when the company fell on hard times. My work schedule was so hectic that I arrived several hours early and stayed several hours late just to read/respond to email and meet with my team who was getting as frustrated as me. My family saw me only briefly each weekend and worse yet, my mind was too focused on the chaos of work to give my loved ones the attention they deserved.

Prior to jumping ship, I crafted what has now become my definitive life goals. It started with several extensive brainstorming sessions to understand my inner passions and skills. I was certain I wanted to venture out on my own but didn’t have a clear direction. My entire career was in the retail/consumer electronics field spread over a half dozen distinct roles with no clear specialty. I didn’t particularly care for the retail industry as a whole but I came to conclusion that the best stepping stone would be to start a consulting practice focused on my core competencies at the time.

And so it happened. I gave notice in early January 2006 and started Identity Mark Consulting, a business that would run successfully for over two years and lay the groundwork for my future entrepreneurial efforts. As with most consultants, I traveled extensively which meant my family time was still pinched but my stress level dropped significantly and I thoroughly enjoyed the freedom and challenges of running my own business.

Throughout my time as a consultant I never lost sight of my ultimate goal of launching a technology startup which leverages the explosive growth of the internet. Early this year I began to map out several different business plans and identify those with the greatest propensity for success. One of these prospects involved a concept that is just now getting the attention of people worldwide - personal branding. I recognized that there are millions of people in the same situation as me…passionate but in the wrong careers, looking for more, and desperately need to reinvent (or reposition) themselves to achieve their goals. This personal branding idea grew into what we now call Nectar and I couldn’t be more proud.

In retrospect I can honestly say that developing a written set of goals was life-changing. I can’t imagine ever returning to my previous lifestyle and I’m thankful that I was blessed with the wisdom to capture my dreams and hold true to them. My advice to anyone stuck in a career path that doesn’t feel right, or worse yet, one that is highly detrimental to your health and well-being, is to make time to get a plan together. This isn’t a quick process (nor should it be) but with a plan of attack the odds become heavily stacked in your favor. I have two close friends who have followed this approach and they’ve turned their lives around in ways never imagined.