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June 2020 · 3.5 Min Read
You know that interview question, the one which says “where do you want to be in 5 years’ time?”? Useless, right? In an interview, you almost always feel obliged to say what you think the interviewer wants to hear.
“Well, you know, I would love to be reaching some of the dizzy heights you have to offer in this company but of course I still think it’s important that I’m reporting to you because you’re more important than me and that will never change and I’m not sure if I should take a breath now or even in 5 years’ time because if that’s what you want I’ll do anything to get this job and I can tell you haven’t thought about these questions but it doesn’t matter because I really am… desperate.”
Have you ever asked yourself that question and genuinely thought about the answers? Where would you like your business to be in 5, 10 or 15 years’ time? It’s a really good exercise to do. The point isn’t to create a rigid destination, it’s just to get you thinking. It can inspire you and guide you in both your future and your present. We’ve written more about why this so useful in Easier When You Know and Lone Wolf but we thought you might be interested in how thinking 15 years’ ahead has heavily influenced something we, as Puck Creations, are doing now.
Like many, when we thought about Puck Creations in 15 years, we thought about the different ways we might have grown. Lots of ideas came up. We spoke about the types of businesses we might be working with, the number of employees or freelancers we might have supporting us, the revenue and profit we might be bringing in and so much more. We also thought about what we, as individuals, wanted. This is so important. Knowing what we want as individuals helps to steer the company in a direction that suits everyone.
It won’t be a surprise to anyone who knows me that I love to write. Writing blogs, website copy, radio ads etc, for Puck’s clients makes me so happy. It is something that I never want to stop doing but I also enjoy writing for me. I love to create ideas for no other reason than the idea itself and the result of that comes out in many different forms. With all of the business ideas that came from thinking 15 years’ ahead, there was one personal aspiration that stood out for me. I wanted to have a bookshelf filled with my own works; novels, movie scripts, poetry books and so much more.
Well, I hadn’t written one chapter of a novel or one line of a movie script yet. I knew I had 15 years to fill my shelf but how could I do that if I was spending hardly any time on my own creativity? I was inspired. I started writing poetry and short stories regularly, often with dialogue that could easily be transferred across to a script. As I released some of my poems into the world, I was told I should collate them and create a book. Nerves held me back for a while but eventually, the idea of having to fill my shelf in 15 years compelled me to start. I’m currently about 3 / 4 of the way into the first draft of my poetry book. I set aside time to write for me almost every day and this is all because I looked 15 years ahead. It’s not rigid. If I don’t fill a shelf, I won’t be upset but having an idea of where I wanted to go in the future has inspired my present.
Nobody knows where they’ll be tomorrow
Tomorrow may never come
Come tomorrow, on today we may dwell
Dwell on the past for a future in hell
Hell is the torment that may come in time
Time is a concept to which we are blind
Blind to a future we cannot see
See we must the dreams that set us free
Free is your mind when your tomorrow’s not bound
Bound to dream, we’re bound to dream
Dream of what’s ahead, let your dreams inspire
Inspire your present with your future’s desire
Letting the poetry be seen had a great side-effect: clients started asking me to write poetry for them too. It also inspired potential clients to approach Puck Creations. It wasn’t that they all wanted us to write poetry for them but the creative aspect of what we do shone through. They wanted us to find a way for them to stand out from the crowd. Of course, there are many ways to do that but to do it well, you need to understand who you really are as a company. That means you need to Define Your Brand. [email protected] to find out how we can help you to do just that.
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