Your Path to Business Success: The Blueprint

 At my core, I believe running a successful business is one of the most satisfying professional actions a person can take. Hobbies are great. They are fun pastimes, can help you meet other people, and craft solutions for problems at a small scale. The only problem with hobbies is that they tend not to pay the bills, which is why we all need a job.  Having a job is work. You can earn an income, be part of an organization, and acquire new skills. However, the problem with employment is that jobs frequently require you to do work that does not align with your strengths. You do not have much power or control over how they operate, who they serve, or the organization's values, norms, or practices. This misalignment can grow into frustration, annoyance, and burnout. The solution for some is self-employment.

Building a business from scratch is the one time when you have total power within an organization. You get to decide who you will serve, how you will serve them, and who you will work with. Yes, others get a vote. You will not be successful if you develop a solution no one needs, provide poor service, or treat those you work with poorly, but all those decisions are within your control. The remainder of this article provides a blueprint for small business owners to design a business that meets financial, lifestyle, and personal fulfillment goals.

The Blueprint for Reducing Small Business Risk

Nine out of 10 small business owners fail the first time they launch a business. The top three reasons businesses fail are lack of capital, knowledge, and poor business model design. The incredible thing about this statistic is that when they launch a second business, 90% of them are successful. They are successful because they learn from their mistakes, gain wisdom, and do a better job the second time. Wisdom is the key to business success.

There is only one way to gain wisdom: to seek knowledge. Knowledge can be gained through personal experience or from the experience of others. You do not have to be bitten by a snake to know it is dangerous. You were taught snakes are dangerous as a child, and you use that knowledge to make wise decisions when encountering snakes. The same is true within business. Knowing the risks and dangers of running a small business can provide a blueprint for making wiser business decisions.

Learning from Others

Over the last 20 years, I have acquired business knowledge. Some of it has come from books I read while studying business and economics at Randolph-Macon College. More was learned from professors as I acquired my MBA from the University of Maryland Global Campus. But most of my wisdom has come from reading over 60 business books and 1000 business articles, completing over 500 hours of workshops, and applying that knowledge towards a +20-year business career.  

I have been everything from a sales associate, store manager, marketer, vice president, and now a small business owner, executive coach, and business consultant. I have the metaphorical scars from every significant mistake I have made over my career, and they are the source of the wisdom I share in my writings, coaching, and consulting. One of the benefits of being an executive coach and small business consultant who works across industries is that I get to see how universal most business challenges are. I can take what I learn from one business or industry and apply it to another.

Build your Learning Plan

Over the last 15 weeks, I have provided visibility to some of the knowledge I have gained throughout my professional career. As I have written each word, I have become more aware of the complexity and simplicity of running a business.  If you are a small business owner seeking more knowledge and wisdom for running your business, review the 15 topics below. Each covers a different lesson that can help you run your business better.

Read the article that answers a current problem you are looking to solve and know that each topic is interconnected. Each business management skill or practice I share is maximized when combined with other skills. After reading the articles, if you need additional help applying what you learned, reach out. My mission as a coach is to help you acquire and apply the knowledge you need to be successful.

Crafting and Communicating Your Vision

Getting Your Vision On Paper

Communicating Your Vision

Determining if Your Vision is Viable

Three Fundamentals of Business: Service, Scale, Strategy

Generating Revenue

Converting Vision to Strategy

Setting Goals

Refining Your Product and Service Offerings

Finding Your Niche

Building a High-Performance Team

Building Trust with Your Team

Getting Your Team to Work Together

Attracting and Developing Talent

Reducing Team Conflict

Must have Business Tools

Balanced Scorecard

Balance Sheet

Cash Flow Statement

 If you have read this far, thank you for taking the time to review this blog. Running a small business is one of the most challenging and rewarding things you can do. If you would benefit from having additional support and guidance running your small business, please feel free to email Executive Coach Dorian Cunion at dcunion@yourpathexecutivesolutions.com or book a session to learn more about our services.

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Stop Overwhelm. Start Impact. The Proven Strategy to Hit Aggressive 2026 Goals with Fulfillment

Are you a leader who is already working hard, yet still feels overwhelmed by the relentless demands of hitting aggressive targets in 2026? You know the potential for significant impact is there, but are you secretly worried about the cost to your energy and well-being?

At Your Path Coaching and Consulting, we understand that extraordinary impact doesn't just require self-sacrifice. It requires a fundamental shift: it's time to stop working harder and start working smarter, in alignment with your natural strengths and energy.

The Hidden Drain: Why Hard Work Isn't Enough

You're a high-achiever, so you already focus on strategic KPIs (Professional Objectives). But if you fail to address the "why" and "how" of your daily work, you create a "fulfillment gap." This gap leaves you with professional success but drains your capacity, leaving you feeling stressed.

Our holistic approach provides the missing piece. We don't just set goals; we integrate powerful self-awareness tools into your strategy, enabling you to build sustainable success.

The 3 Shifts Strategic Leaders Make for High-Impact 2026 Goals

Leaders who transition to a more strategic leadership role and achieve their most ambitious goals focus on these three critical shifts:

1. Silence Your Internal Saboteurs (The Judge, Controller, Pleaser): Do you recognize the internal "critics" that constantly generate stress and block your potential? We provide critical insight into these Saboteurs and, most importantly, give you an action plan to manage them. You can’t conquer your goals until you conquer your internal obstacles.

2. Forge a Dual-Focused Strategy: Aggressive goals demand capacity, but you can’t generate capacity by focusing only on work. We help you define 3 Core Focus Areas for 2026 that integrate both your high-impact Professional Objectives (strategic KPIs) and your critical Personal Objectives (well-being and capacity).

3. Master Delegated Leadership: Hitting huge goals means maximizing leverage. Learn the principles of the Power6 Leaders Program to build leadership capabilities through self-awareness and accountability. Discover how to delegate your role effectively to maximize your leadership potential.

ACT NOW: Find Fulfillment and Hit Your 2026 Targets

Stop letting overwhelm dictate your results. Make 2026 the year you achieve extraordinary impact and personal satisfaction.

Join us for our virtual, focused 90-minute workshop on Nov. 17th: "Finding Fulfillment at Work in 2026." 

Get Clarity, Skip Overwhelm. Register TODAY for the price of only $69 and receive a FREE Saboteur Assessment!

Click Here to Secure Your Spot Now and Register 

https://yourpath.myflodesk.com/ioqrs45ka8

P.S. Ready for 1:1 guidance? Schedule a free consultation today to discuss how our Executive Coaching or Business Consulting services can help you achieve your 2026 goals.

#executivecoach #businessconsultant #personaldevelopment #careerdevelopment #businesssuccess

5 Things You Must Focus on to Scale to $1 Million in Revenue

There is a saying, Success begets success. This is especially true within business. Whether you have a successful food truck and are considering opening your first brick-and-mortar location, or if you are a pest control company looking to expand into a new state, having a strong foundation is essential to success. However, just like the stock market, past performance is not a reliable predictor of future results. To take your business to the next level, you need a solid plan, sufficient capital, a strategy for growing revenue, technology to support business operations, and the right team to help you.

Detailed $1 Million Business Plan

Everything starts with having the right plan. Some people will tell you that you need a formal business plan. If you speak with successful entrepreneurs, you will discover that there is no single set method for business planning. The SBA provides two types of business plans for entrepreneurs to use on its website. One is a traditional business plan, which includes a lot of information about the business structure, market research, and service lines, while the other is the business model canvas, which focuses explicitly on the value proposition, expenses, and revenues. Both are different paths that take you to the same goal of defining

• Who will you serve?

• How will you serve them?

• Who will you need help from?

• How will you make money?

Capital to Support Growth

Once you have defined your business growth plan, it is time to secure the capital needed to bring that plan to life. You start with business planning because you need clarity on how much money you will need to grow your business. Once you have defined this, you can explore whether you will fund your growth through owner investments, crowdfunding, credit cards, taking out a loan, grants, or venture funding. Running out of cash flow is the #1 reason companies go out of business, so defining how much money you need and securing it before scaling is a critical step in the process.

Line of Sight to Return on Investment

All capital has a cost. Whether you borrow money from a bank or use your own money. When you borrow money from a bank, the costs are clear. Banks charge a set amount of interest and provide repayment terms. In contrast, when you fund your business with your own money, the opportunity costs are real, less apparent, and uncertain.

Imagine if you had the choice of investing $10,000 in NVIDIA last year or in your company last year. Which decision would be the right one? NVIDIA stock has increased by 41% since last year, which means your investment today would be worth $14,100. For you to be better served by putting that $10,000 investment in your business than NVIDIA, you would have had to earn more than $4100.

This is an oversimplification because it ignores tax liability and other factors; however, fundamentally, every time you allocate a dollar towards an investment, you should ask yourself what type of return you need to make it worthwhile. Forecasting your anticipated expenses and revenue growth, as well as projecting your profits, can help ensure that you generate enough revenue to utilize your capital wisely. 

Technology to Support Operations

As your business grows, so does complexity. Inefficiencies are amplified, and problems that were relatively minor before can grow to become significant points of pain and frustration. Implementing sound processes and leveraging technology is essential to providing you with the efficiency, visibility, and control needed to ensure consistent customer satisfaction as you seek to serve more people.

As you develop your growth plan, take the time to identify the technology you can integrate into your workflow to enhance operations. Common improvements include leveraging project management tools like Asana and Notion, marketing tools such as HubSpot and Canvas, or point-of-sale technology like Square or Clover.

Right Support Team

Last but not least, you must be extremely clear about who you will need to support you in your growth. Many times, people make the mistake of defining the person by name (like 'I need James Brown'), instead of defining the type of person they need. The reality is that your business exists in a competitive market. As much as you may want a particular person on your team, there is no certainty when it comes to recruiting, developing, and retaining talent. 

For this reason, define the skills, mindset and type of employees you need to scale your business. This is helpful for the following reasons:

1. It enables you to assess your current needs and identify who on your team can fill the necessary roles.

2. If your current team lacks some of the skills, you have clarity on what competencies need to be built.

3. If the time horizon for developing your current team is too long, you have clarity on the type of person you need to hire.

4. As you grow, you will need additional personnel, and this list will provide a starting point for selecting future talent.

JP Morgan Chase's research shows that only around 3 to 6% of small businesses reach $1 million in sales within the first five years of their existence. This is not because business owners are not intelligent or hardworking. Most of these businesses never hit the $1Million milestone because they have not taken the time to layout a solid plan, they lack sufficient capital, utilize their capital in inefficient ways, fail to embrace technology, and do not surround themselves by the right people. If you are looking to scale your business to $1M, start by writing out a plan for each of the elements outlined in this article.

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I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Feel free to email executive coach Dorian Cunion at dcunion@yourpathexecutivesolutions.com. If you are interested in seeing additional content related to leadership and business, follow me on

• Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/your_executivecoach

• LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/doriancunion/.

Or check out the Coaching Gold podcast on

• Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/13bVHSpTVGfoBXZYpFFyNR?si=2Wp-jP3DR0CXK5f7RrBjfA or

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