Have a Balance in Life

Entrepreneurs are always on the go and want to accomplish great things. Sometimes it behooves them to step back and take account of their life.

The holiday season allows you the opportunity to decompress and look at he big picture.

Many years ago, I attended a week-long leadership program and one thing they taught us that I still remember is that all great leaders need balance in their lives. I believe the lesson is appropriate for Entrepreneurs.

Think of your life as a square having four corners. One corner is you; the others are family, business/career, and community. In order to maintain a perfect square, or balance in life, each corner needs equal time to be devoted to it. You need to take care of yourself and your family. Of course, your business and career are important drivers. Lastly, you need to give back to the community in which you live.

There are occasions when one of the corners demands more time, but over a long period you need to strive to devote appropriate time to each corner in order to maintain a balance in your life and be “successful” in the real sense.

Ravi Patel

www.patelCFOservices.com

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Having a Financial Vision

Most Entrepreneurs are aware of the need for and have most probably developed a vision for their company. The Company Vision is the overall guiding force that drives the company and forms the basis of the Mission Statement. The Company Vision and the Mission Statement allow the Entrepreneur to clearly communicate the strategic direction of the company to the employees and other stakeholders.

In my opinion, a Financial Vision is also important for Entrepreneurs. Developing a Financial Vision quantifies the overall Company Vision and serves as a yardstick to measure periodic financial performance. It also provides the financial stakeholders in the company – shareholders and debt providers – a concrete gauge to assess the potential for their investment. It is not necessary to widely share the Financial Vision of the company.

A Financial Vision is long-term and has to be developed in conjunction with the Company Vision. It might include targets for revenues, company value, return on equity, growth, etc. The Financial Vision should be easy to understand and contain no more than three areas of focus.

Ravi Patel

www.patelCFOservices.com

Matching Thoughts with Action

Many people dream up big ideas and constantly broadcast their thoughts. Very few people put their thoughts into actions.

Actions represent visible expressions of your thoughts. Make sure they are in sync.

Entrepreneurs are in the category of people who actually go about realizing their dreams by building on their ideas and actually making them work. They launch companies and develop and sell their products and services, all started by their thoughts

But, they need to do that as business leaders too when dealing with their stakeholders. Match what you promise your stakeholders with specific action. If you ask your employees to do something, you should too should be setting an example in that regard. Don’t expect people to blindly take your word for it if you do not actually do something concrete in that aspect.

As they say, actions speak louder than words – they actually do!

Ravi Patel

www.patelCFOservices.com