I've got a confession. I need a rest. ChannelE2E has had a heck of a journey in 2016. But I'm looking forward to a little bit of rest and relaxation with my family later this month.
Fortunately, our business plan for 2017 is locked and loaded. While Amy Katz continues to focus on our business development and sponsor relationships, I remain obsessed with our digital platform strategy -- a corny way to say we'll keep attracting more IT service providers to our website.
But here's the thing. Amy and I have a few ideas for more businesses and more web destinations. Earlier in our careers, I suspect Amy and I would green light a few of those projects and march forward with a few more launches. This time around, we're avoiding the temptation to do so.
Why the hesitation? Actually, the answer focuses on that exact word: Why.
Aligning With Your 'Why' in 2017
As you polish and finalize your own business plans for 2017, make sure the strategy aligns with your 'Why' -- the purpose, cause, or belief that inspires you to do what you do. Amy and I have similar Whys. We love ChannelE2E and the community it represents. But the site also is the business pipeline that provides for our respective families, especially as our kids near the journey to college.
Anything that distracts us from our Whys -- our families at home, and the E2E (Entrepreneur to Exit) journey in business -- is no longer worth our time. Amid that reality, Amy and I on Monday carefully reviewed about a dozen parked URLs and the associated business ideas. In many cases, we're not renewing the URLs. We're saying no to some ideas because we believe so strongly in our core focus.
You should do the same. Document your why. Pinpoint exactly why you go to work each day. Also, what makes you tick at home? If you can somehow align the efforts -- and prune away the nonsense -- you'll start 2017 with a clear mission that aligns with your passion.
What About Us?
In our case, we're doubling down on ChannelE2E. The site remains the fastest-growing IT media brand we've ever launched. We think the underlying architecture and content focus will keep us scaling for years to come. We're treating the journey like a marathon rather than a sprint. Or as Jim Collins would put it, we're maintaining a fanatical discipline on our 20-mile march (see item 5 here).
Thanks for taking the journey with us.
