Today, we’re focusing on navigating the pressure of running a business while staying connected to your bigger vision for your life and business.
Stay tuned as Eric shares a simple five-step exercise to help you gain clarity, direction, and long-term alignment.
The Sandwich Generation
Many business owners are part of the “sandwich generation,” taking care of parents while also raising children. That pressure adds to the demands of running a business, whether you’re leading a large team or working as a solopreneur.
A Long-Term Vision
When pressure is high, it helps to reconnect with why you started the business in the first place. Most people fail to clearly define what they want their life or business to look like in the next 10 years.
Identify the Different Areas of Your Life
The first step is identifying up to seven areas of your life, including health, family and friends, fun, finances, work, personal development, and volunteering or charities.
Rate Each Area
Rate each area from 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 your ideal, to create a clear picture of where your life currently feels aligned and where you need to improve it.
Define your Actions
Define two or three actions for each area that will move the needle in the right direction for you. Small actions and little wins create momentum.
Questions and Answers
Make a list of questions about your life 10 years from now, including where you live, your health, your accomplishments, what clients are saying, and your personal wealth.
Eric’s advice is to take your time answering those questions and sleep on them instead of rushing through the process.
Write the Script of Your Future Life
Describe a specific day in your life 10 years from now. The goal is to create a two- or three-page story that feels exciting and aligned.
Revisit the Vision During Difficult Moments
Review the document once or twice a year, especially during moments of pressure, doubt, difficult client situations, or imposter syndrome.
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“When I’m reading this document, the last question I ask myself is, do I really want to work for someone else? And obviously, the answer is no.”
Eric Rozenberg
Full transcript of episode 325 of The Business of Meetings podcast, a solo episode with Eric Rozenberg. Lightly edited for readability.
Eric Rozenberg: Hello, and welcome to a new episode of the Business of Meetings Podcast. I just arrived in Brussels to visit with my mom, and I was reflecting on two separate conversations with two different business owners that I’m helping in my cohort. I’m thinking about the fact that if you’re like me, in the same generation, we are kind of the sandwich generation. I know it’s not a Boomer, X, Y, Z, Millennial, whatever. It’s really the sandwich generation in the sense that on one hand we are taking care of our parents, and on the other hand we’re taking care of our children. That is something quite unique in the last decades, I would say, and that is only adding to the pressure that one might feel being a business owner, whether you have 100 employees or you’re a solopreneur. That is the type of stress which is added to running a business in the meetings and events industry.
So there’s always something that I’m coming back to when the pressure is high, and I want to share that with you. This is extremely helpful, and this is again something that anyone can relate to, can use, whether you have your own business or you’re thinking about starting your own business, and that is your long-term plan – why you start the business in the first place. So I want to share with you five steps that I’m using to define that vision, because quite frankly, when I ask someone – and I can ask you the question right now – what would you answer to me if I would ask you, what is your vision in the next 10 years? How do you see your life? How do you see your business? Most people have no clue, and most people would even add, “I never thought of it.” So here are quick five steps that you can use to define your vision and come back to it when the pressure is high.
The first step is to define different areas of your life. I would suggest that you go with a maximum of seven different areas — for instance, health, kids, family and friends, fun, personal development, finances, spouse and significant other, work, and spiritual, volunteering, charities. If you see in those seven different boxes, everything that I would do in my life is actually included in one of those seven categories. So I would strongly recommend that you think about your life and define those different areas of your life.
Then the second step is for each area, you want to rate it. So for instance, if your life is boring, you have zero fun, you wake up in the morning and wonder why you’re doing what you’re doing, that would probably be rated a one, a two, a three max. But on the contrary, if you know your purpose and you’re excited, and as soon as your eyes open you’re ready to get going, that is probably an eight or nine. Then you do that for each category. If your finances – you have no need to make money anymore because you know that not only you but your kids are covered – that would probably be a nine or a 10. If you’re in a situation where you have six months’ visibility in your business, then that’s probably more like a three or four. So you see the idea – first step, you define those seven different areas, and then for each area you give a rating between one and 10, one being the worst and 10 being the ideal.
The third step is how to improve each area. In other words, for each area you’re going to define two, three actions that you’re going to take to improve that area, to move the needle in the right direction. So for instance, if your goal is to run a triathlon, you’re going to start getting a coach for running, or a coach for swimming or biking, you’re going to take some concrete action, little actions, little wins that are going to drive you in the right direction. So put those three first steps, define those seven areas of your life, rate each of them, and define actions that you’re going to take for each area. I would say in probably 90 minutes, two hours max, you can do that.
Then the next two steps are actually the most interesting and the most impactful. I promise you. I did one for me in 2020, and when I read today what I wrote then, it’s fascinating how my life has progressed in that direction. So the first three steps I just spoke about. Now let’s talk about the two main steps, which is step four and step five.
Step four is divided into two different parts. The first part is you’re going to list all the questions that come to your mind when it comes to your life and the different departments of your life. So you’re going back to the different areas you have defined, and you’re going to list questions about them, not answering them, but listing questions about them. So, where are you living? Which part of the world are you living in, by the sea? Are you living downtown? Are you living in the country? How’s your health? What about your weight? How many times per week do you train? What does your social life look like? What is your legacy? What is the status of your personal wealth? What have been your greatest accomplishments? What do you do for work? What are the people working with you saying? What are your clients saying? How many offices, how many people, how many clients do you have? If you have kids, are you supporting them?
So you see, there’s a lot of questions, and I would say for that first part, I really take the time to list all those questions that come to your mind, and that is an exercise that’s probably going to take you another two hours. Then my advice is to sleep on it. Don’t start answering those questions, which is the second part of the fourth step. So the fourth step is: A, list all the questions. B, start answering those questions. So the first part, A, you’ve taken two hours, you’ve slept on it, and then you go into answering the questions, and you take as much time as you need. There is no rush. You don’t have to take a plane. You have all the time in the world — although you don’t want to take months to do that. I want you to focus your energy and your mind on this exercise for several days, max.
So you start answering those questions, and when you’re done answering those questions, then again, let at least one night go over. sleep on it and go to the last and most important step, and that is describing your day: one day in 10 years in your life. So you pick a very precise moment. Again, when I did this exercise in 2020, I picked Thanksgiving 2030, and I started describing my life and all the elements of my life. To do that fifth step, describing a day in 10 years in your life, you’re going to go back to your questions, you’re going to go back to the answers you gave to your questions, you’re going to go back to the different departments of your life, and you’re going to start writing the story, the script of one day in your life in 10 years, and the goal is to end up with about two, three pages. Then, guess what? Yes, you sleep on it again. You let it sink in, then you come back to it, you read it. If you’re not excited by what you’re reading, it means you’re not there yet. If you are very excited by what you are reading, and you like everything, you’re done.
So with those five steps, you have defined the vision for your life in the next 10 years. If it’s too much for you to do 10 years, you can go with five, but don’t go under it, because if you’re looking at three to five years down the road, what you’re going to probably do is increase 10% per year of what you’re doing right now, which is definitely not a visioning exercise, and it’s not going to have the same impact to be used right now, when you are in a moment when you are having doubts, when you’re having a lot of pressure. So take at least five years, and ideally 10 years.
Now you have your vision for the next 10 years. Again, the five steps: define different areas, rate each area, define concrete actions to move the needle, list all the questions and answer them about your life in 10 years, and then write the script of your life – one day in your life in 10 years – in two, three pages. This document, I absolutely recommend you look at it once or twice a year. See if you’re still alive, what has changed, are you still excited with that. Most importantly, think about it when you are in a situation where, because of the sandwich generation, or because you have a lot of pressure in the business, or because a client is difficult, or because you’re having doubt or imposter syndrome or God knows what else might be in your mind and you have some doubts about why you’re doing what you’re doing, go back to this document. It’s extremely helpful, and I can talk by experience, because, guess what? when that happens to me, and it happens to me as well on a regular basis, for whatever reason, I’m going back to that.
The last thing I would share with you is: when I’m reading this document, the last question I ask myself is, do I really want to work for someone else? And obviously, the answer is no. So I hope this resonates with you. If you want to go deeper into that, let me know, reach out to me on LinkedIn, and I hope this was helpful. See you in the next episode of the podcast, The Business of Meetings. Thank you.
Thank you for tuning in to the Business of Meetings Podcast. I hope you found today’s episode valuable. If you enjoyed the show, the most important thing you can do is leave a review and share it with your colleagues, it really helps spread the word. I truly appreciate your support. And if you’re ready to take your business to the next level, don’t forget to visit eventbusinessformula.com to learn more about how we are helping event business owners like you. Thanks again for listening, and I’ll see you next time.
