It seems like such a simple question. As entrepreneurs, we theoretically get to decide. Often we don’t decide though. We start a business, we begin to get clients, we do the work and we make a profit (hopefully). Mostly we work until we fall asleep to get up and start over.

But do we actually contemplate after the start of our business what we actually want.

If success is a journey, then what we want should define what we want that journey to look like.

Have you ever sat down to just write down how we want life to go. Good health, plenty of money, good relationships. This is a start, but can you measure good health. Shouldn’t there be some parameters?

Today, I went for a walk and all I thought of the whole time was “What do you want?” My mind wandered and wandered. I’m reading Think and Grow Rich for the 3rd or 4th time. I’m pretty sure this demonstrates my rebellion since he tells us to read it 3 times in a row so you can really get the message. The first step on the journey is a burning desire. Napoleon Hill tells story after story of people that got what they wanted simply because they decided.

For now I must be content with the question, as I have no answers. Do you know…..what do you want?

When I embarked on the entrepreneurial journey 12 years ago, I don’t think I thought through what this would mean for my personal development.  We looked at the cost of purchasing the business vs. starting our own.  We looked at what it would mean for our family, my husband less than one year out of college with 2 children and a third on the way.

Now I know that it has been the journey of a lifetime. Often times our business doesn’t look like a 12 year old company because we chose to spend the first 10 years covering the basics like girl scouts, soccer, basketball and billable hours.  Essentially we owned our own jobs.

Personally I’ve had to learn to discover what buttons from my past are glaring for all to push whenever they want, if you heal the button no one can push it.  I’ve learned that money doesn’t buy happiness but lack of money earns a whole heck of a lot of unhappiness.  It turns out strategic planning is not figuring out what’s for dinner next Saturday.

When I first started public speaking back at the ripe old age of 26, my favorite slogan was, “Success is a journey not a destination.”  At that point it was a nice idea, but not a personally experienced truth.  Over the last decade, I’ve found that it isn’t just truth it is an absolute essential component to sound mind.

My time on this front porch will be spent exploring what does the success journey look like, from a business perspective, as a parent and a spouse of a loving 17-year marriage.  Hope you will join me. – Guest post on Basics Matter.