Exiting the Cocoon – The Butterfly
Over the past weeks I’ve been sharing the learnings I’ve gained from one of the darkest times of my life. Everything around me was exactly what it needed to be, but I didn’t see it that way until now. In every dark moment there is a ray of light, or multiple rays of light. In this instant one of those rays of light is a new business construct that I believe is perfect for me at this point in my life. Over the past few years I have been extremely focused on the concept of purpose and teaching people why they should be purposeful. In the end, I’ve found that the best way to teach people to be purposeful is to demonstrate it, not preach it or teach it. I’ve also learned that you can’t tell anybody anything until they’ve asked for help. So, basing a business on purpose might not be the best direction for me because I can easily transform into a preacher.
With that in mind, the one thing that I’ve been best at in my life is telling stories and promoting concepts. To synthesize complex ideas and communicate them in a way that others can easily understand them. As I started to re-evaluate my focus I realized that everything that I was attracted to revolved around business development. I was talking with a few companies about taking on a full time role in business development for their organization. I was also talking with others about doing business development as an outsourced resource. In the end, I’ve always said that I’m genetically unemployable, so the outsourced role seems much more in line with my DNA.
More than anything else, I believe that most business owners want more business. Growth at all cost. But, most business owners I know don’t know how to systematically get more business, and that’s what I love the most. So, if that is what I love the most, why not build a business around that? I want to help people grow their business by understanding how to build and manage the right relationships. In the end I believe that most people don’t have the right clients because they don’t have enough prospects, so how do we help them get more qualified prospects? That is what 5 Dots is all about.
The art of business development is my passion and 5 Dots will focus on being a player/coach in this arena. For some companies we will be their business development department and for others we will teach them how to do it themselves. We will evaluate the tools and resources necessary to achieve the goals of each client and put the systems in place to produce results.
In addition to the services that we will deliver to clients, we will focus on educating people on what business development really is and how to do it well. Over time we will look to develop an online university that will provide tools and video on how to build a business development practice. This will take some time, but be on the lookout for that in 2017.
The 5 foundational pieces of business development are:
- Relationship Development
- Telling Your Story
- Identifying Your Target Market
- Strategic Alliance Partners/Influencers
- Relationship Management
Most of our blog posts will focus on one of these five areas. We are excited about the future and aligning ourselves with the right strategic partners to produce results for our clients. We look forward to many years of making a difference and not only being successful, but helping some of our clients redefine success in a way that produces more happiness and satisfaction. Next week I’ll talk about the genesis of the name and where it came from.
In the end, 5 Dots will help our clients connect dots, one dot at a time …..
Larry Kesslin 