“Up, up and away”

If you plan on being an entrepreneur, then plan on needing plenty of ambition.

I was in San Francisco last week to work with Randy Batchelor and celebrate the formal launch of his new startup venture. Sol Rebel is a B2B consulting firm focused on delivering world-class engineering, construction management and education to support the rapid growth of the solar sector.

The night before I left, while I was packing, my mind drifted to the 5th Dimension’s groovy hit of yesteryear …

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly, we can fly

Just six months ago, Randy and I started with a vision, a two-page outline of a business plan and a rough notion of a few products and services.

Ambition, baby! That’s the only explanation. No one in their right mind would do this stuff.

Entrepreneurs must face their fear of the unknown. Will we succeed or fail? None of this matters if the vision is clear and the interest is strong. A dream must be pursued. That is how most entrepreneurs think and act.

My job was to take Randy’s concept—the big idea—and help to transform it into reality. Randy is a talented professional with a high interest and the aptitude to succeed. Those are the qualities of an ideal client. Together, we built something out of nothing..

A well-honed strategy begins with a plan. The structure and details, the composition of our work together, matters and helps inform our long term success.

We started with a business plan, wrestled with it, and muddled on through. This helped better define Sol Rebel’s markets and services.

But there is still more work to do. Randy had a name for the business, but we needed a logo. We later developed and integrated a slogan—“Energy Evolution”—to further build the brand.

The back and forth between concept and reality, theoretical and concrete, as well as the dynamic tension between the two states, kept the process moving along. As the months wore on, we developed social media channels, we built a website, we hired a Social Media Coordinator, and we began to tell the the Sol Rebel story to the world.

“Up, up and away”

Our responsibility is to put ourselves in the best possible position for success. This is possible when we marry concept with plan, idea with structure, and forge a path forward with real, tangible purpose and intent.

The vision is integral. It starts you on your journey. Ambition is critical.It helps fuel your drive. But the missing element is often structure. Business owners are often too busy dealing with day to day operations to design and stick to a plan. An executive’s attention is regularly taken away to focus on the most pressing immediate need, the next fire. Many entrepreneurs are enamored with their end goal but too preoccupied to build a roadmap to get there.

I press my clients to focus on structure. We regularly work together to achieve that delicate balance between an idealistic vision and a pragmatic, workable reality.

Are you a business owner, entrepreneur or executive seeking to strike a better balance between your ambition and your day to day reality?

I’d like to hear more about your personal journey. Do you have a formal business plan? Do you use it?