Evolution of the Company
It has been an 18 year journey of learning and development as I have grown with my business. To celebrate my history and announce the launch of a new design for 2015, I decided to write a “learning to date” blog exposing in 300-500 word installments what it took me 18 years to learn
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Over a 3-part series, 4 if you count the gallery I posted, I will cover the evolution of the business, the market analysis, and the development of a profitable niche. Through this series, aspiring businesses will find some pitfalls to avoid. Seasoned businesses will gain courage to enter their own period of innovation.
Start Purpose, Market, and Margins
I began what was to become MAWMedia Group, LLC as a brand for my computer expertise. I had observed the use of the Internet as a platform for identity development, and I was intrigued by the possibilities. The virtual world promised a level of freedom and connectedness that the physical world could only approximate.
I didn’t awaken to the business potential until my second year in doctoral school. A professor was a part of an association that wanted to use the Internet as another tool for communication with its members. Leveraging the income from a monthly fee, I invested in my own domain name and server space. That is, I was making nothing on the transaction except opportunity.
Maturing: Integration of Purpose with Market
My lesson in this has developed into advice for entrepreneurs at this micro-enterprise level. For sustainability, you must balance opportunity, profit, and purpose. At that early stage 18 years ago, I was willing to accept lower profits in order to increase opportunity. I made a mistake, though, to confuse this necessary process of development with my business purpose.
Business purpose must drive the negotiations of contracts and the selection of projects. In 2015, I have finally articulated the business purpose along with the social good purpose. Business purpose can be considered an expression of the products and services you offer. It keeps you focused on the tangible production and outputs of your business. Social good purpose expresses the desired impact of your business activity. It presents the outputs as deliverables directly related to outcomes for your target of benefit.
Advice to You and Your Business
To get the balance right, you will want to complete a Wright’s Outcome Logic Model. You want to do it the Wright way because my process of OLM outlines opportunities presenting an agenda for continued development of expertise. It then specifies outputs as deliverables connecting activities as profit engines. These are directly connected to outcomes in measurable terms. The result is not only a logical representation of the business, it is a modular plan for business development over time complete with revenue centers.
Find out more about OLM here: http://mawmedia.com/blog/archives/1199
