Have you ever reached the point where your business is working, your family is growing, and you realize you have been so busy keeping up that you stopped deciding where you are actually going? That is exactly what a vivid vision is for.
That question sat underneath a conversation I had with Colleen O’Connell-Campbell, Wealth Advisor and lead of O’Connell-Campbell Wealth Management at RBC Dominion Securities, on her podcast, then called I’m A Millionaire… So, Now What? and known today as The Cash Rich Exit Podcast. The episode is called Vivid Vision, and the line I left her listeners with is one I still live by: “Lean into the future and create a vivid vision for your life and business.”
Listen to the full episode here.
Running businesses while raising a family
Colleen asked me what it was really like to run more than one business while raising a family. At the time I was the founding franchise owner and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Ottawa. We talked about how the company started, how it supported local charities, and what happened to the items that could not be donated, because recycling and giving back were part of how we ran it.
What I wanted her listeners to hear was that none of it happened by accident. Every season of growth started with a clear picture of what I wanted the business, and my life around it, to look like. If you are not sure your business is still giving you that, start with three ways to see whether your business is working for you.
From Women Moving Forward to working with visionaries and COOs
We also talked about the turns my work had taken. Women Moving Forward (now Women Living Fully), the community I built for women, and why I eventually closed it back then. Why I moved into Moving Forward Matters. And why my focus shifted to working with visionaries and their COOs and second in commands, the people who turn a vision into an operating business.
That is where the work with COOs came in: bringing COOs together in a mastermind so they had peer-to-peer support while they grew their organizations. I also shared why I launched The Successful Women’s Show, the Living Fully podcast and the Speaking of Business podcast.
My frank advice: know your priorities so you know your yes
Every guest on Colleen’s show is asked for some fun, frank advice. Mine was about trust. Trust yourself to know when it is time to say yes to the right opportunity. Say yes to the right things and no to the wrong things. And you can only do that when you know what your priorities are, because then you can trust your own voice. Knowing your no matters just as much, which is why I wrote about the three things I stopped tolerating in my business and my life.
I believe that even more today than I did then. A vivid vision is not a vision board. It is knowing clearly enough what matters to you that the decisions in front of you become easier to make. Sometimes it begins with a simpler question: how do I want to feel?
Create your own vivid vision
If you looked a year ahead, what would a vivid picture of your life and your business include? Write down three details: what your days feel like, who you are working with, and what you have said no to. Then notice which of this week’s decisions moves you toward that picture.
Thank you, Colleen
I am grateful to Colleen O’Connell-Campbell for the invitation and the conversation. You can listen to the full episode of The Cash Rich Exit Podcast here.
These days, I continue these conversations every week on my YouTube channel. If you would like to keep going, subscribe to At the Heart of It All on YouTube.
