Encourager. Dirk Eckart

are more than willing to wait eight weeks to get there hands on one of our specialized scaffoldings.

      One strong brand

      My son has almost taken over on his own in accordance to our common ideals. We are working with other companies to develop a robot that can erect scaffolding on basic facades.

      My employees, clients, and I are ecstatic to have produced such a strong brand that my great-grandkids can read about it on Wikipedia.

      Doing something good with the profits

      Our profit is 1,000,000 Euro annually after taxes. That being said, the business partners and myself are not living it up. We pay 30 percent into a foundation which helps special-needs students and the disabled lead independent lives.

      When I see the faces of the students we help, I get goosebumps and that alone is my recognition for what we do. The feeling to have been successful both in business and in private and that others can benefit from this success is, for me, extremely satisfying!

Does an entrepreneur need a vision? YES!

       by Ingo Karsch, visions and referral marketing expert

      The answers I get from established businesses in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy to the following questions are nearly the same everywhere.

      For question 1: “Who of you has a vision?”, 90% of those present raise their hands. For question 2: “Who has written down that vision?”, the tables turn, and only about 10% of them have done this. For question 3: “Who regularly rereads the written down vision and reflects about where he or she currently stands?”, now only 20% of that previous 10% have their hands up. Now do the math, if only 100 participants are sitting there in the lecture hall …

      Before every “act”: collect inspiring and positively formulated thoughts

      In my opinion, having a clear vision and continuously re-evaluating it is the be-all an2d end-all for a business! Yes, it is more important than anything else! Every person must create their vision before they start anything. I would even say there would be fewer bankruptcies, disappointments, and social cases if banks required for a credit to start one’s business a vision along with the necessary documents.

      By the way: I used to be like the 10% of those people who did not raise their hand to question 1! Yes, I never put any inspiring, positively formulated thoughts into where I see myself three or five years from now. I never put any real thoughts into which direction I wanted to grow! I also did not have a clue of what my business should stand for in the future, what results I wanted to achieve and how all of this should make me feel.

      Visions need to be big!

      Now I know that a vision is something that is indispensable for the setting of goals and as for planning those goals. Yes, it is a catalyst for making dreams a reality! I pay particular attention when I work out my vision that I feel good about what I am doing I also try to imagine what reaching that goal would mean to me and what would change for me when I reach it. Today, I frequently share my vision with other people because they always go far beyond the boundaries of what I can imagine. Clearly I need people that feel inspired by my vision and help me to achieve it.

      The be-all and end-all for an entrepreneur is a clear vision!

      Visions are catalysts for making dreams a reality!

      Just copy Walter Stuber: Try creating a vision and make sure to write it in the present form when and, if possible, with explicit imagery. If some people smirk or even laugh at your vision, then you can be sure your vision is large enough! In doing so, you also develop the basis for the creation of your mission. By the way: The correct answer to that little bit of math at the beginning is two!

      Know how!

      Practical tips

      • Be clear, WHY you have your business!

      • What are your visions, do they coincide with those of the other business partners and/or do they complement each other?

      • Set the WHY (goals, missions, visions) in writing => possibly in a mind map with pictures.

      • Communicate your WHY (goals, missions, visions) also to your employees.

      • What goals do I want to achieve?

       In 1 to 2 years:

       In 5 years:

       In 10 years:

       By the age of 60:

       How do I get off at 60+?

      • Sit down once a year (at the end of the year/at the beginning of the year) and check whether visions/goals have changed or whether the goals have been achieved! Let the last year pass in review! Learn from mistakes! Be proud of what you have achieved so far!