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Use Your Past to Build Your Future

The following post was a recent newsletter topic where I talk about DNA and knowing where you’ve been to know where you are going. It talks about changing we’ve made here on Darrenslaughter.com from both a design element as well as a business model and product offering. If you aren’t getting my weekly newsletter, you can sign up by clicking here, I’d love to have you and I think you would get something for your effort

Today, I’m going to talk about knowing your DNA and how that helps your business. If you know me for a minute, you know I have a saying, “you have to know where you’ve been to know where you are going.” I didn’t coin it or anything, but I use it a lot. I like it because it remids you to pay attention to your past before you can begin to think about tomorrow.

I use myself as an example, we recently redesigned our website again over at darrenslaughter.com. That’s a pretty common occurrence, I mean, we are website designers, but this time it wasn’t a token change with a few new images here and there, it was a complete overall in design AND philosophy, and it was a step back into the future.

I went with a blog-inspired look and feel and got rid of most of the services we provide in the navigation to promote just one service with three products; The Contractor’s Toolbox, which consists of the Apprentice plan, the Journeyman plan and the Master plan. Three levels of service based on what your particular needs are, but with one approach, giving you back more time.

That was our original DNA

When I started the company, it was predicated on giving you back time. By giving you a suite of services that you could use to get your online marketing done and go on about your day. That was our DNA and that’s what we went back to this week. New year, old approach to new things.

How about you?

Have you found yourself lost a bit, wondering what road to chose or path to take? Let me help. In the hundreds of consulting calls I’ve had over the years, the guiding light that get’s most people back on course is figuring out what the PURPOSE of the business was when they started it.

When I’ve had the conversation about purpose, I can almost see the person on the other end of the phone light up with excitement and realize (or remember) what the hell they are doing all this for. When you can get to that true North and remember what your purpose was, there is nothing stopping you.

Nothing can stop you because motivation kicks it, momentum swings back in your favor and you realize you are an expert at this thing you do, no one does it better and you can scream it from the rooftops. But you have to dig deep into your history to get there.

In the famous words of Steve Jobs;

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them by looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path.”

When you remind yourself of that, whole new worlds open up for you. Clarity sets in and the future get’s easy. Or it should anyway.

So spend today thinking about yesterday, last week, or as in my case, over 10 years ago. Remember what got you to today and figure out how it is going to sustain you through tomorrow.

Have a great week!

-Darren

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