Recently, a friend of mine turned me on to a Youtube series about Jeep enthusiasts and their adventures on iconic trails in the Southwest. I love the wilderness. It was right up my alley. Each episode starts with the caravan collecting at a beautiful location. They review their plan together and get started. There are great movement shots of the caravan driving by on the trail. Each Jeep is as different as its driver. As the colors roll by, you get a sense of the infinite options and decisions these owners must have made to get their rig just the way they wanted it. When the sun starts getting low in the sky, they arrive at the planned camping location. You get to watch as the community comes to life with everyone pitching in to help. Some are cooking. Others help with mechanical issues. A campfire gets built for everyone to relax around. I couldn’t help but think that this is a great metaphor for our businesses too. Each one of us, as Entrepreneurs, are out there in our customized Jeep. Our industry caravanning along with us on an iconic and challenging trail.
Every entrepreneurial business is different just like those Jeeps. If you are anything like me, you looked for the modifications and options that you might want on your business someday when you start one of your own. Then the glorious day comes when you buy your Jeep, or start your business. Pretty soon you are knee-deep in expense and working nights and weekends to get it all put together just the way you want it. With a Jeep, we get to order purpose-built parts that bolt on. In an entrepreneurial business, it’s not that simple. It is more like designing your own parts, having them made, and figuring out how they need to be modified when you go to bolt them on. When we get to the trail with our business and eventually have a mechanical breakdown. Most of the time, the caravan is going to keep going and it is up to us to fix it and catch up.
EOS® or the Entrepreneurial Operating System is a process for building and modifying the best parts that you can for your business. We use a tool called Hitting the Ceiling when those mechanical failures happen. It provides a process for us to lean on that will create a path forward and keep us on track to repair the business and catch up.
Want to learn more? Book a call with me to see how EOS® can help your business.