People are always asking me if we took our cross-country trip yet. My answer is always the same. “No, we haven’t gotten the sponsorships that we need yet.”

But we still haven’t let that stop us. We’re starting out small by taking local trips, interviewing baby boomers who have reinvented themselves and creating shows for Plymouth Area Community Television. As long as we stay in New England, the shows aren’t too expensive to produce.

Still, it’s time that we are taking away from our businesses, so we needed to figure out a way to get paid for our time. That’s when our brilliant business coach, Will Shain,  came up with the idea of getting underwriters for our shows.

That’s why I believe so strongly that every succesful business owner needs a good coach. Sometimes it’s a blinding flash of the obvious (bfo) that one would not have had without a coach there to poke and prod until the brilliance comes out. Other times it’s the outside perspective that a business owner cannot have herself because she is too close to it.

A coach gets an owner to work ON his or her business instead of IN it. Yes, a small business owner often needs to do both. However, without taking the time to get that mile-high perspective, it’s hard to be successful. Coaches  get us to look objectively at our business, remove the emotional attachment, and think about whether the business is really working.

Will helped us think about what we could do now to take steps to move toward our big goal. By taking smaller actions, we will eventually get there. We started doing the show because it was a way for us to practice what we want to do across the country. We’re learning how to use the camera equipment and how to edit the footage to create a good show. We’re taking a little road trip with each show because when we’re on the road our shows will also be a combination travel log and interview.

When we finally do get sponsorships from larger companies for the cross country trip, we’ll be ready to go! We’ll have the knowledge and experience we need, and hopefully the contacts to interview. That will make it much easier to hop on that bus and go!

What small steps can you take today to move you toward a goal that might seem overwhelming?