W.

Bradford Swift

Building Your Business On Purpose

Life On Purpose Institute, Inc. Purposeful Report

Building Your Business On Purpose
The Power of Purpose in Shaping Your Business
by Dr. W. Bradford Swift Founder, Life On Purpose Institute Life On Purpose Certified Coach http://www.lifeonpurpose.com brad@lifeonpurpose.com

2011 W. Bradford Swift and Porpoise Publishing, All rights reserved. Visit Life On Purpose Institutes web site for free yet valuable resources: http://www.lifeonpurpose.com. This report may be freely distributed or included into other publications without written permission. For discounts on multiple copies contact Life On Purpose Institute at publishing@lifeonpurpose.com.

W. Bradford Swift Before You Begin

Building Your Business On Purpose

This is part of a series of Special Reports written to help you enhance the quality of your life. I encourage you to read this material in the same manner you would listen to a life purpose coach. Stay open and listen with a beginners mind approach, while you also read for the powerful nuggets that can contribute to your life. You may recognize one of my favorite coaching formulae for true growth and development: Insights (nuggets of gold) + Action = True Growth & Development Pan as much gold as possible from this report and then take action on it to integrate it into your life. (Well revisit this coaching formula at the end of this report as well.) I recommend you capture these insights in one of the following ways: Create an Insight Page and keep it with you as you read the report, which you should be able to do in one or two sittings. Write down the insights as they come to you. If you also realize what actions you could take to integrate the insight into your life, go ahead and jot those down as well. If nothing comes immediately to mind, dont worry about it. As I said, well revisit the formula at the end of the report. Or, Use a highlighter to make note of the insights. If youve printed this report out, you might even want to number the insights as you highlight them, as well as jotting down any possible actions you see you could take. These Special Reports are built on a foundation of the Life On Purpose Process. While you are almost certain to receive value from them without having experienced the Life On Purpose Process, you will glean even more from these reports having completed the process of clarifying your life purpose and your inherited purpose. To learn more about the Life On Purpose Process and the various ways to travel along the Purposeful Path to your personal life on purpose, go to: http://www.lifeonpurpose.com In either case, here are three foundational concepts to keep in mind: 1. The Life On Purpose Perspective suggests that a persons life purpose is more about who they are as a spiritual being and what they came to this life to be and to experience. A persons life purpose is not what one does, its who one is. Another way to think of a life purpose from this perspective is that a life purpose is the context, vessel, or container into which you pour your life that

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Building Your Business On Purpose

then has the power to shape all that you do and have. 2. The Life On Purpose Perspective also suggests that a person has not just one purpose but two, in that we have two powerful forces that can shape our lives. We have our true, or Divinely Inspired Life Purpose that is based in Universal Love, or ones relationship to God/Higher Power, or ones spiritual nature. We also have the Inherited Purpose that is based in fear, lack-based thinking and leads to unnecessary struggle and suffering. 3. Throughout this Special Report, well be working with coaching distinctions. Its my personal view that one of the most benecial tools a life coach can use to help enhance a clients life is coaching distinctions. You can think of a coaching distinction like a lens through which you look at life and yourself, and in the process you can often see something about both that will ultimately add some quality to your life. For example, when my mechanic, Dale, looks under the hood of my car he sees a whole different world than I do. When I look, I see mostly dirt and oil and maybe the oil dip stick and radiator cap. But because Dale has many more engine distinctions hes the one Im going to call on if my car wont start in the morning because his having these extra distinctions make him more effective in xing what is wrong. In short, the more distinctions we have AND USE, the more powerful and effective we can be in our lives.

W. Bradford Swift

Building Your Business On Purpose

W. Bradford Swift

Building Your Business On Purpose

The primary purpose of an organization is not to make a prot. It is to help human beings grow, express their creativity, contribute their life-source and make the world a better place. The purpose of an organization is to inspire the soul. Leadership expert and Fortune 500 Business Consultant, Lance Secretan In this special report, I invite you to stretch your mind with some mental gymnastics as we explore a new and evolving perspective for business in the twenty-rst century that I call the Vision-Directed, Fiscally Responsible Enterprise, also known as a Business On Purpose. Why Are You in Business? If youve been in business for several years it may have been quite awhile since youve asked yourself, Why am I in this business, anyway? What was it that attracted you to this line of work? What did you see possible for yourself? What core values are you able to express and live true to as part of the business youre in? Have you found yourself compromising some of your values due to the challenges of the business world? In todays rapid pace, its easy to lose connection of our purpose for being a business owner. In fact, Ive found this is one of the major reasons many business people burnout. In a larger sense, we forget that our business can be a great way to express our true purpose for being alive. I still remember watching the business owner, a veterinarian, I interned with over 30-years ago clutching the countertop in the pharmacy of his hospital, his face crimson red with anger and frustration, and my vow to never end up like that in my practice, only to nd myself in a similar situation about ten years later. Lets face it; owning a business has its challenges. In this report, were going to start with the end in mind and work back from there by rst distinguishing what a Business On Purpose is. We will then outline the steps to building such a business. Lets start our journey along the purposeful path by exploring the quote of business consultant, Lance Secretan, in which he claims: The primary purpose of an organization is not to make a prot. Now, this may y in the face of everything youve learned about business, but try it on. What if its true? What if your businesss primary purpose isnt to make a prot, but instead its to help human beings to grow, express their creativity, contribute their life source and make the world a better place? Could it be that the business world has had the cart before the horse all this time? In other words while its important to make money from our business, it may not be our businesss primary purpose, or at least it doesnt have to be now, as we move

W. Bradford Swift fully into the 21st century.

Building Your Business On Purpose

Im suggesting that a key piece of the puzzle that has been missing for many business owners is realizing that a business can be an integral way to express their life purpose, and that its through this expression of our life purpose that we grow, contribute and make the world a better place. Without this realization, many of us burn out in our work because weve lost sight of the primary purpose that we went into business for in the rst place to make a difference in the world. It is possible to design your business where your life purpose is the core of your businesss vision. Your purpose is like an ounce of plutonium at the heart of a nuclear power plant. Your purpose radiates out to impact and shape all aspects of your business, and then continues to radiate out to be a positive inuence on your community and ultimately the world. When you take the time to design or redesign your business in this way, you have the makings of a Business On Purpose. The rst step is to reframe what we mean by a life purpose. Redening Purpose When we start considering what is our life purpose, we run into the rst obstacle because most people dont have a clear sense of their purpose, or theyve misidentied their purpose. According to the popular book, Cool Careers for Dummies: 46% of women and 52% of men don't have a clear sense of purpose in life. When William Marsten, a prominent psychologist, asked 3,000 people, What have you to live for? 94 percent responded by saying they had no denite purpose for their lives -- 94 percent! Since clarity of purpose is key to building a Business On Purpose, we need to reconsider what a life purpose really is because many people have been misled. Over the past 16 years, in asking hundreds of people the simple question, What is a life purpose? Ive found a large majority of the responses have a common theme to them: A life purpose is what Im meant to do while Im here on earth. The key word is do. Its as though right out of the starting gate of life we see this sign that says, This way to your life purpose, and it points to the doing part of life. Since its a well-worn path we assume its the correct direction to go. Unfortunately, where most of us end up is with a very busy life, but without a lot of deep satisfaction and fulllment. From this doing perspective many people misidentifying their job, careers or professions as their life purpose. For others, they mistakenly believe their primary roles in life, like being a good spouse, parent, employer or employee, to be their life purpose. To correct these

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Building Your Business On Purpose

misconceptions, its important to redene what a life purpose is. Instead of this cultural perspective of a life purpose, try on this perspective: A life purpose is the context, vessel or container into which you pour your life. In other words, you can think of your life purpose like a cup into which you pour your life. Just like a cup shapes and forms the water inside it, your life purpose shapes and forms your life. So, while there is a close relationship between what we do and our life purpose, just like there's a close relationship between a cup and the water within it, they are both distinct. From this perspective we can see that our life purpose isnt what we do, but is instead this greater force in our life that shapes what we do. This subtle difference can make all the difference in the world in how satisfying and fullling you experience your life. It also makes a huge difference in helping you bring clarity to your life purpose. There's an old joke that points to why making this distinction is so important. One evening two friends found Joe on his hands and knees under a street lamp. When asked what he was doing there, Joe replied, "I lost my car keys down in that dark alley and I'm trying to nd them." The two friends glanced at each other in a confused manner before one of them asked the obvious question, "Joe, if you lost your car keys down in the alley, why are you looking for them up here under the street lamp," to which Joe replied, "Oh, the lighting is much better here." Are you like Joe, looking for your life purpose under the street lamp of doing simply because it's easier? If so, it may be time to start looking elsewhere, particularly if youre interested in a life purpose that could be a powerful shaping force for your life and your practice. What are the basic elements or ingredients that can be blended together to make up a life purpose that can powerfully shape your life? Recipe for a Powerful Life Purpose As a personal and business coach for the last 22 years, I have discovered that there are three basic ingredients that can be blended together with a fourth component that acts like the glue, resulting in a life purpose that is a powerful shaping force in your life. Lets look at each of these basic ingredients. Vision What is your unique vision of what you see to be possible for your life, your loved ones, your community, and ultimately the world? Answering that question is important because your vision is the rst basic component of a life purpose

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Building Your Business On Purpose

Often times, determining your vision of what's possible is more of a process of remembering, since we all start off in life with a sense of possibility, though many of people may have lose that sense of awe and wonder as they grow older. Values Each of us have a set of core values, those intangibles of life that matter the most to us, that we're willing to give our lives for. Perhaps we're not quite ready to stand in front of a ring squad for our core values, but we are willing to give our life in service of having these values be more present in the world in which we live. Being Who are you at the core of your being, your very soul? Its valuable to answer this question since who you are is the third basic component that makes up your life purpose. This essence of who we are can be challenging to discern since its so much a part of ourselves that its often invisible, but is often more apparent to others. Some examples of ways of being include: being compassionate, funloving, serious and introspective, or loving and kind. When you blend these three components together you begin to get the makings of a force that can shape your life in each moment in time as you go about doing whatever youre doing. But the mixture isn't complete yet. We're still missing a key ingredient -- the glue that holds it all together. Interestingly enough, its an aspect of life that is almost never talked about in the business environment, yet its key to a Business On Purpose. I like to refer to it as the Universal Attractive Force of Love that truly does connect us to each other and to the rest of life. Its probably what attracted you to your chosen business. For example, it was my love of animals and my wanting to contribute and make a difference with them that led me to becoming a small animal veterinarian in my rst career. Its also a key ingredient often missing for people on the verge of burnout. Whats In It for Me? At this point you may be realizing that clarifying your true purpose in life and then building around it a Business On Purpose can take some effort, so why might you want to take the time and energy to do so? There are many benets to doing the work to clarify your purpose. In this next section, well explore the top 10 benets reported by people who have made the effort and who are living on purpose and who have built a Business On Purpose.

W. Bradford Swift

Building Your Business On Purpose

Top Ten Benets to Knowing Your Life Purpose The top ten benets that follow are the ones that Ive realized as Ive continued along my own purposeful path over the past sixteen-plus years as well as hearing my clients claim these same benets. For maximum benet, I encourage you to make a list for yourself of the top 3 or 4 benets that you feel would be of most value to you. There will be a short coaching assignment at the end that will help you leverage the value from this short list of benets. Focus When you clearly know your life purpose, it becomes a truing mechanism allowing you to focus more clearly on what matters most to you. Many people report that this has been one of the most valuable benets to clarifying their life purpose, especially when they begin to use their life purpose to make their decisions and choices in where and how they are going to invest their time, energy, money and talents. The other side of this coin is that often times a life off purpose is unfocused and scattered. Much like a boat without a rudder, when you dont know your true purpose your life tends to be tossed about by the currents of circumstances. As the old saying goes, If you dont know what you stand for, youll fall for anything. Passion For many people clarifying their life purpose is the key to unlocking a renewed passion for life. That passion becomes the fuel that propels them forward in expressing their life purpose, often in extraordinary ways beyond anything they would have considered possible before they knew their purpose. A life off purpose is often devoid of any real passion. The experience can be a little bit like the movie, Pleasantville. At the start of the movie, everyone in Pleasantville was living a dull, black and white life, but over time they began to tap into their passion and learned that life could be a beautiful, multi-colored experience, lled with passionate moments. If each day in your business feels pretty much like the day before, and you spend much of your time dreaming about what youll do on the weekend, you may want to add passion to your short list of benets. Being Unstoppable

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Building Your Business On Purpose

People living on purpose become unstoppable, particularly the longer they live true to their purpose and the more they allow their purpose to shape their life. Yet, at the same time purposeful people arent positional in their being unstoppable. They have learned that its not necessary to go through life like a bull, ramming through anything that tries to get in their way. Theyve found that often times a little patience, coupled with persistence can go a long way along their purposeful path. People without clarity of purpose often nds themselves stopped or stuck in life, which isnt surprising because they often havent tapped into their passion so theyre like a high powered automobile without any fuel in their tank. Fulllment Living a life where you are regularly expressing your life purpose and allowing it to shape your decisions, your thoughts, feelings and actions is simply a whole lot more fullling. A life on purpose is lled with meaning, and people on purpose realize they are making a difference simply by being in the world. Then, whatever they choose to do in the world to express their life purpose is icing on the cake. People living off purpose often have a life lled with meaning as well. Unfortunately, the meaning that they have ascribed to life stems from fear and preoccupies them with the need to struggle and suffer. Remember, suffering is optional in this world, and knowing your purpose is the key to making this important shift. Living a Value-based Life As we discussed previously, an integral component of a persons life purpose is their core values -- those intangibles of life that mean the most to them. Our core values are at the heart of all the values weve been taught we should value. Think of it like three concentric circles. The largest circle is composed of your should values; the next circle is your chosen values -- the values that youve actually chosen to hold onto and live from. The inner circle is your core values, -- those chosen values that truly matter most. Since these core values are an integral part of your life purpose, when you are living a life on purpose, you are living a value-based life, rather than a life shaped by a particular lifestyle. People living off purpose are often focused on living more from the outer circle of their should values, what often is described as keeping up with the Joneses. In a lifestyle-based life, the focus is on life looking a certain way -- the way we were taught our life was supposed to look. The focus is often more on stuff and doing whats expected of us, not what gives us the most joy. 10

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Building Your Business On Purpose

Fun Lets face it, living on purpose is simply a lot more fun than living a life based in fear and shoulds. People who know their life purpose and are living it have a renewed zest for life. They can bring purposeful play to almost any situation and nd or create ways to have each day be a reection of their true joy and purpose. A few years ago, I took time off from my normal work routine to take in an afternoon matinee. The movie I saw was The Legend of Bagger Vance. While I thoroughly enjoyed playing hooky from work and the movie in general, there was one line that stood out above all the rest, and the main lesson I was there to learn that day. The caddie, Bagger Vance, said, God is happiest when his children are at play. I keep that line on my desk lamp so I wont forget. Whenever, Im feeling like my work is drudgery, or theres a heaviness involved, I know in those moments my life isnt being shaped by my true purpose. People who live off purpose have bought into the idea of no pain, no gain. It doesnt have to be that way. Sure, there may be times when you need to exert yourself more diligently, but that doesnt mean you need to suffer while doing it. I lift weights three times a week as part of my health and tness routine. Part of the object to lifting increasing amounts of weight is to fatigue the muscles so they will grow and become stronger. At the same time, this doesnt mean that I need to suffer while Im straining. I have the choice to sweat with enjoyment or to sweat while complaining about how hard it is, or how unfair it is that I have to be stuck in my gym, etc. I choose to bring joy and fun to my life and so can you. Integrity For me, a life on purpose is a life of ultimate integrity -- a life that is whole and complete. People who know their purpose and are living it, know who they are and why they are here. They live true to their core values as they serve themselves and others through the expression of their life purpose. People who are living off purpose simply havent found themselves yet. Theres nothing wrong with them, theres simply something missing -- knowing their life purpose. Trust / Faith As people clarify their life purpose and begin to live true to it, many of them report a surprising increase in synchronicity and serendipity in their lives. Its as though the Universe is rewarding them for the courage to live true to their purpose. With this comes a deepening in trust and faith as they realize that 11

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Building Your Business On Purpose

indeed there is a greater force in the Universe than themselves and yet they are at the same time an integral part of that force. People living off purpose are often slow to trust anything they cant see and touch. Coming from fear, trusting looks like a bad idea, and they often have plenty of evidence for not trusting -- all the times they did and were hurt. Thats why it takes real courage to live on purpose. You will never hear me say that a life on purpose is risk free -- anything but. I will say from my own experience and from the experience of the hundreds of people Ive met living on purpose, the risk is well worth it. Grace According to the dictionary, grace is the unmerited divine assistance given man... and people living on purpose often report living a grace-lled life. When you commit to living true to your purpose, something amazing begins to happen. The Universe lines up with your intention and commitment. Perhaps this quote says it best: Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creativity t here is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one denitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising ones favor all manner of assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethes couplets: Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it. W. H. Murray Flow And perhaps we can summarize the other nine benets under this last one. People living on purpose live in the ow of the Universal stream of consciousness. Rather than ghting against the current, they allow the current of whats wanting to happen to happen. They allow what wants to ow to ow. They know that while they may never completely understand or comprehend the grand design and plan for this Universe, they can still be an integral part in its realization. Your Coaching Assignment Have you picked the top three or four benets you feel would be of most 12

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Building Your Business On Purpose

value to you? If not, take a few minutes to review the list, writing down the ones youd want to be sure to include in your life and practice on purpose. Next, write down a description of what your life and your business would look like if these benets were more present. Make the description as multisensory as possible. What would you see, hear, feel, even taste and smell. As much as possible write the description in the positive, what would be present rather than what wouldnt be present. In this way youll be creating whats known in coaching as the gap between where you currently are and where you long to be. Next, well explore a second shaping force that prevents us from living and working on purpose. It is a primary force in causing us to have such a gap in our lives. Its called the Inherited Purpose, and not only do we as individuals all have an Inherited Purpose but so do businesses. As you will learn, its just as important to uncover the Inherited Purpose as it is to clarify your true life purpose because otherwise, the Inherited Purpose becomes a master at sabotaging your efforts to live and work on purpose.

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Building Your Business On Purpose

Lets review where we started this special report: The primary purpose of an organization is not to make a prot. It is to help human beings grow, express their creativity, contribute their life-source and make the world a better place. The purpose of an organization is to inspire the soul. Leadership expert and Fortune 500 Business Consultant, Lance Secretan Secretan suggests that the primary purpose of an organization isnt to make a prot but is, instead, to grow and develop people including ourselves. I term such an organization a Vision-Directed, Fiscally Responsible Enterprise, or a Business On Purpose. Now, lets explore how to build a Business On Purpose by rst looking at one of the primary obstacles that can prevent us from ever getting around to building such a business. I refer to it as the Inherited Purpose of Business. Whats Shaping Your Business and Life? Earlier, we outlined that the recipe for a life purpose is made up of: Your unique vision of whats possible, Your core values, The essence of who you are, All bonded together by the universal attractive force of love.

Unfortunately, many peoples lives and businesses arent shaped by their true purpose, but are instead shaped by another force which is formed early in life; that part of our life the old Wonder Bread commercials used to call the formative years. I call this second shaping force the Inherited Purpose. Just like we each have a unique true purpose, we also each have an Inherited Purpose, and guess what? The same is true for a business. To get a better sense of what an Inherited Purpose is, lets look at the 4 primary points that characterizes one: 1. The Inherited Purpose is based in fear, a consciousness of lack, and a need to struggle to survive. Its what life fabricates for us to keep us safe and secure. 2. Unfortunately, when our lives are primarily shaped by the Inherited Purpose there are some key elements missing such as a sense of true satisfaction and fulllment. 3. One of the aspects of the Inherited Purpose that gives it such power in shaping your life is that it operates in the background of your awareness. Its like water to a sh. A sh doesnt spend much time thinking about water because it spends all its time in water. In the same way we grow up with our Inherited

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Building Your Business On Purpose

Purpose being quietly formed around us, unaware how much it shape our lives. 4. The Inherited Purpose is also the one of the default mechanisms of human beings. Its like the screen-saver on a computer that cuts on if the keyboard isnt used after a set length of time. The Inherited Purpose automatically begins to shape your life whenever youre not consciously having your life shaped by your true purpose, and especially whenever you feel threatened. Nowadays we dont need to be chased by a hungry bear or tiger to be threatened. More common, modern day threats can include receiving an unexpected bill, a notice from the Internal Revenue Service, or one of your best employees giving their 2-week notice. For example, my true life purpose is: To live an inspired, inspiring and courageous life of purposeful, passionate and playful service, a life of mindful abundance balanced with simplicity and spiritual serenity. Unfortunately, that wasnt the context that shaped the rst 30 to 35 years of my life. My inherited purpose began to be formed when, at the age of six, my dad suddenly died of a heart attack while on a shing trip, leaving us with no life insurance and very little savings. Over the next several years I watched my mother struggle to pay too many bills without enough money. During this time, my Inherited Purpose became: I must be smart and know all the answers (or pretend that I do), I must work really hard so that I wont be poor and so people wont leave me. And it was this Inherited Purpose that shaped much of my life and how I operated my business, so it became a key piece of the Inherited Purpose of my business. Think of it this way. Since a business is made up of people, each business also has an Inherited Purpose that is a composite of the peoples Inherited Purposes, especially the owner and key managers who shape the culture of the business. The Inherited Purpose of a business is also based in fear, lack and a need to struggle to survive. Therefore, to transform your business to a Business On Purpose, its important to uncover your own Inherited Purpose and the Inherited Purpose of the Business. The Steps to Building a Business On Purpose While all the specics of how to build a Business On Purpose is beyond the scope of this report, here are the basic steps I recommend taking: Distinguish and Own the Inherited Purpose of the Business

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Unless you know what is shaping your business when fear, lack and struggle are present, you will nd yourself consistently being under-mind by the Inherited Purpose. Bringing the Inherited Purpose from the background of your awareness to the foreground is a key rst step. Build a New Foundation Once youve begun to be responsible for the Inherited Purpose, you can begin to build a new foundation for your business by next clarifying your true life purpose that is a blending of your vision for whats possible, your core values and the essence of who you are. Create the Business Vision The next step is to integrate your life purpose into the vision statement for your business. For example, my life purpose is to live a life of purposeful, passionate and playful service, mindful abundance balanced with simplicity and spiritual serenity. The vision of Life On Purpose Institute is creating a world where all people are able to live a life of purposeful, passionate and playful service, mindful abundance balanced with simplicity and spiritual serenity. Your Business as a Meta-Purpose Project Once youve accomplished these rst three steps, youre ready to create or recreate your business as a Purpose Project. A Purpose Project is dened as a project or goal with specic, measurable results that is also a natural expression of your life purpose. While working to fulll the project you are naturally being and expressing your life purpose. Most businesses are actually a number of different inter-connected Purpose Projects with each one having their own specic results that can be measured. You might have a Purpose Project entitled, Attracting New Perfect Customers, and another called, Playful and Passionate Team Players, or one entitled Serving Our Community. In this way, your business becomes directed primarily by the vision that is in turn a reection of your true life purpose. At the same time you continue to maintain the nancial integrity of the enterprise so that the vision and your life purpose can continue to be realized. Remember, Secretans quote, The primary purpose of an organization is not to make a prot. doesnt mean its not important to show a prot. Its just not the primary purpose. Develop Your Purposeful Team Its really not enough for you to know and be living true to your life purpose. You also need to develop a team of purposeful people who realize they are living and expressing their own life purpose as they assist you in fullling the

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vision of your business. An employees life purpose doesnt need to be identical to yours for them to be a good team player. It just needs to overlap well enough with your own that they can fully express their purpose while working in your business, helping to fulll the the business vision. In my estimation, one of the best investments you can make is in your personal development and that of your fellow teammates. Building Your Business Operating System Just like a computer needs an operating system, the same is true for a Business On Purpose. An operating system will give your business the structures and systems necessary to keep it on track and on purpose as well as helping to keep the vision of the business alive and in your teams awareness. Otherwise, it wont be long before your vision is simply a nice platitude that has no real shaping power in your business. Besides dividing your business into various Purpose Projects, additional components of your business operating system can include Purpose Principles and Practices. A principle is a standard or guideline that you establish in an effort to bring a certain consistency to the business. It may be something as simple as, the customer is always right, or anything and everything can be resolved through communication. Similarly, a Purpose Principle is a principle that expresses the purpose or vision of your business thus providing you and your team with a way to be sure your actions, decisions and choices are congruent with the overall vision of the business. Purpose Practices can be thought of as a principle in action. If one of your Purpose Principles is everything can be resolved through communication, a Purpose Practice consistent with that principle might be: Whenever there is a dispute or disagreement with a client, we will keep all the communication channels open until the issue is resolved to everyones satisfaction. Taking the time and effort to create an operating system of Purpose Projects, Principles and Practices will give your vision the added strength necessary so that it can indeed be a primary shaping force in your life. In the process, you and your team will have the opportunity to live true to your life purpose each day in your business. Now, thats a Business On Purpose

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W. Bradford Swift Time for Action

Building Your Business On Purpose

Remember, the formula for true growth and development that I introduced at the start of this report: Insights (nuggets of gold) + Action = True Growth & Development I trust youve gleaned a number of insights/nuggets of gold from this report. Now, your last and most important Call to Action Assignment is: Look over your list of insights that you captured either on your Insight Page or from highlighting. Pick from 1 - 3 of the insights that speak to you most loudly that you feel would make the biggest difference in enhancing your life. Determine what action or actions you need to take to integrate the insight into your life. Commit to taking those actions within the next seven to ten days. Share this assignment with another person who will help you hold yourself accountable for taking those actions. Act!

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About the Author

Since founding Life On Purpose Institute, Inc. in 1996 Dr. Brad Swift has become one of the countrys foremost authorities on personal life purpose. He is the author of Life On Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life, an award-winning nalist in the Self-Help: Motivational division of the Best Books 2007 Awards sponsored by USA News. Its the rst and only how-to book that guides people from confusion to clarity about the most important question: Who am I and why am I here? To learn how on or off purpose your life is, take the fun and engaging Self Test at: http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/selftest To learn more about additional books by the author go to: http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/books http://www.lifeonpurpose.com/amazonpage http://www.wbradfordswift.com

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Porpoise Publishing Flat Rock, NC 28731 www.lifeonpurpose.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Building Your Business On Purpose: The Power of Purpose in Shaping Your Business ISBN-10: 1. Self Help 2. Personal Development 3. Spirituality 4. Business Copyright 2011, W. Bradford Swift All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from Life On Purpose Institute, Inc / Porpoise Publishing, with the exception of short excerpts used with acknowledgement of publisher and author. Cover photo & Design by Ann T. Swift Authors photo by B. J. Condrey Edited by Ann T. Swift Typeset in Palatino Printed in USA First Edition

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