On the Roadmap of Your Business

Posted on September 4, 2019 by dragonspitapothecary

Before GPS in cars, planning a trip meant bringing out acordian folded paper maps or sometimes even an atlas book containing several maps. These would be spread across tables and held down with notepads, pens, highlighters and tourist books earmarked with interesting facts about towns and highlights worth stopping to visit. With all the information on the table, the process of plotting a course would begin with discussions about what was the best route, how to avoid known high traffic areas and if you should follow the same route on your return trip home.

The maps would soon be highlighted with the proposed route and marked along the way with bright pens of proposed stops along the way. These marks would represent fun rest stops, beautiful scenic areas, landmarks and historical sites, good food and decent places to lodge. Planning a trip took hours, sometimes days and weeks to come up with the perfect route leading to the ideal trip. It was part of the fun of the trip and as important as what to pack and how to load the car.

Your Business Roadmap

Regardless of size of company, number of employees, number of floors and elevators all companies have a roadmap. These too are maps. They are strategic documents outlining a route a company plans to take and identifies what is on the horizon coming up next as well as what is further out. A roadmap is more than just the company’s goals, it is also a connection between large goals and steps necessary to achieving those goals. It is a planned route and without a roadmap we would be lost with limited vision and no plan to execute from in achieving success.

I have a small business of just my husband and I. At times it is quite a bit of work putting together all the pieces necessary to build and grow this small business but we approach and apply the tasks the same as any business owner or senior leader in a major corporation would do. We have a roadmap. It may not be as elaborate and it is not printed on pretty paper but nonetheless we have one and it is living artifact of this small business that helps keep focus where we need it and identifies where we need help figuring out complex problems. It is something I actually carried in my purse with me everywhere I went and would look at while traveling for my professional career job. I would look at it in airports on a layover or in my hotel after a long hard day. It started as a list of what I didn’t want anymore in my working life and evolved into a roadmap I could act on to change how I worked. Our roadmap for Dragonspit Apothecary & Crafts is our vision, goals and actionable steps to achieving what we desire for this business. It is a representation of where we want it to go and how to get there. It is our planned route.</