Another great business blog post from the creative mind of John Jantsch links to a powerful Business Model YOU concept. In the movie, City Slickers, we are told the meaning of life is ONE Thing.

Jantsch correctly points out that every organization's customer should be able to relate to ONE Thing about the organization. It's just as vital for every manager to understand that ONE Thing about their business as it is for each of us to understand our meaning of life and its ONE Thing.

Business Model YOU Workshops teach adults how to better understand the dynamics of their careers. Personal Business Model mapping is first taught but the process doesn't stop there. Every Business Model is seen as a blueprint of a person's career. In making a blueprint for a building, an architect needs to first know the Purpose of that building. Although Purpose is not an element of the blueprint, it is the engine that drives its design.

A Personal Business Model needs the same overall design engine. It needs a personal Purpose. While it may be easy to learn how to create an organizational Business Model, it is much harder to create one for your own life because its so hard to know what your own Purpose might be. It's also easy just to read the book and not really struggle with the work recommended in this area. That's one of the many values Workshops bring to those interested in Career Reinvention. A Workshop participant has to actually do the hard work of looking inside themselves to find their own Purpose, which is their ONE Thing.

An overlooked side benefit of these workshops is that once you have been through the process of creating your own Personal Business Model, when you approach your next organization Business Model you do so with an orientation of finding and building the organization's Purpose as well. You will have ONE Thing instincts!

It's Valentine's Day and the co-creators of Business Model YOU are happily receiving their first editions of this ground-breaking new workbook. The original idea was really simple; apply the creativity of Business Model Generation to individuals and their careers. The result would be a Personal Business Model (PBM).

On the surface, it is that easy. What caught us by surprise was actually working with a Personal Business Model was not at all like working with an organizational Business Model. The difference is that it's easy and fun to brainstorm with a group on what is "out there" in any organization. That process is very different when it's now about what "inside here" or your personally chosen career path. The  9 model elements of career reinvention are almost the same as in business reinvention; but working with them is far more challenging. Helping you through that challenge is what Business Model YOU is all about.

I have come to believe that anyone seeking to be a great organizational Business Model practitioner needs to first understand and work through the Personal Business Model process. There is a forced change in your point of view that improves your ability to now work with organizations in much more meaningful ways. Let's take Valentine's Day as an example.

Valentine's Day is not about who loves you; but is the day you have a chance to appreciate how wonderful it is to have someone in your life you can love. It may not be a spouse; but a friend, associate, or even pet that shares your life. The important thing is that there seems to be a purpose to love another built inside every one of us and on this day we take the time to find some way to express to them, in some way they will appreciate, how much this means to us.

Those relationships are not missed in Business Model YOU. It looks at the impacts of our career purpose and multiple roles in life. Then we need to deal with the Customer Relationship element of our Business Model. Everyone working with Business Models knows the two basic Customer Relationships that we enter into this block, Acquisition or Retention. What gets stressed in Business Model YOU is that this is not from the organization's perspective, it's from your Customer's. The real question here is how do our Customers want us to relate to them?

Because almost every organization has spent time on CRM, we are oriented to thinking how we want to relate to our customers; but that is backwards. How does our customer want us to relate to them? In spite of what all the Facebook consultants tell me to believe, I have no desire to be in a Retention relationship with, let's say my plumber (and "like" their Facebook page). I want them to be easily Acquired when I need them (and appear a the top of my Google search on demand). On the other hand, I may want my doctor to want me to "like" his Facebook page and to take an interest in what is going on in my life.

Today I am reminded how personal and important these relationships are. Because I have worked on Personal Business Models I also see the relevance to all Business Models in a way that was obscure before.

To all those who have been a part of this rewarding effort, Happy Valentine's Day.

_Buying a Business is a high risk step for the new business owner. While developing the materials for Business Model You, it became apparent that many of those who take the time to create a Personal Business Model end up considering entrepreneurship. To keep the book on focus, the authors decided that this was a new topic and those interested in it should consult additional materials.

We supplement the book in our Career Reinvention Workshops with information about small business ownership, buying a franchise, and other career alternatives. In the spirit of Self Discovery and then Customer Discovery, we use a short test in the Workshops that reveals at least one critical aspect of business ownership personality, Grit.

Anyone considering owning their own business should take a moment to examine their "Grittiness" with a Grit test.The Grit idea comes from the work of University of Pennsylvania researcher Angela Duckworth. She has been able to find that a determining quality for the success of a student is their ability to stay on focus. This may be far more important than what standardized entrance examinations try to measure such as intelligence, knowledge, and/or creativity.

Grit is a difficult quality to describe. My mother, who was born in the area of Europe that was formerly East Prussia, is fond of telling us she has Prussian determination, while others are simply stubborn. She is an incredible entrepreneur, continuing to create value for others even with the physical limitations of being 75. She just keeps going and that has been an inspiration to everyone who knows her.

Grit is a personal determination that is different from stubbornness. The difference is that Grit has purpose, stubbornness only has a past. Before taking the leap of buying a business, it's worthwhile to do a bit of Self Discovery. Click here to download the 12 question Duckworth Grit Questionnaire for yourself.

If you find you have Grit, the question then becomes why? Do you have a purpose that could be fulfilled in your own business? Then buying a business makes great sense. Perhaps that Grit is for another purpose, such as a leadership position in a larger organization (which may not be a for-profit organization). Your Personal Business Model will help here.

Those scoring lower on the Grit scale still have purpose; however, it may be important to associate yourself with another leader in a more supportive role. Buying a business is not for everyone.

The 70's Best Seller, Future Shock, predicted that by now the social changes brought about by advancing technology would leave us all in a state of "shattering stress and disorientation". This is not a bad way to describe how the career displacement and burnout so many experience feels. The good news is that the future has also produced a way to deal with it - Personal Reinvention and to achieve that, Personal Business Models.

Personal Business Models are an outgrowth of the organizational Business Modeling techniques complied in the best selling workbook, Business Model Generation. Self-described as "a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers ...", the manual introduces a new tool, the Business Model Canvas, as a way to visualize the dynamics of how an organization supports itself. The canvas then becomes a place to create possible futures and judge their effectiveness. The process is both engaging and enlightening, which has lead to its international popularity.

It would seem that applying this technique to an individual could be equally as engaging and enlightening, and another international community has been developing that idea which will be available in early 2012 when Business Model YOU will be published. The deliverable here is a version of the canvas called a Personal Business Model.

While developing an organizational model has many similarities to the Personal Business Model, they start in very different places. The heart of any organization is the market it serves and the value it gives to its customers. Without giving value to customers, there is no reason for the organization to exist.

You and I are different. We exist anyway. Why is that? The heart of a Personal Business Model is an answer to that question. An organization develops or utilizes whatever resources it needs to deliver a value. We have our natural and earned resources without regard to any value proposition. What are we supposed to do with them? Starting here is the challenge of developing a Personal Business Model.

Once your purpose has been articulated and applied to your career using the methodologies in the book, its time to investigate possible change. Your current situation can (and most likely will) change. Business Model YOU  teaches you ways to move your perspective and see what happens. Reinvented career possibilities can then be tested and validated. A new way to finance life will emerge.

Yes, the times are disrupting everything as Future Shock predicted. What used to work in our lives may have already stopped working. If not, it's in danger of that. Change is being forced on us, like it or not. A Personal Business Model provides a purpose-based basis for discovering how to reinvent yourself in meaningful ways to address a new future.

A warning, its not easy. The book will take the reader on a careful step-by-step journey of self-discovery and then reinvention. For many, the book alone will be sufficient. Others will struggle on their own. For those, Personal Business Model workshops are becoming available. Either way, all of us will face Reinventing our futures more and more. It's now a part of life.

_Baby Boomers were proud to be a generation of change in their youth. They also thought they would be able to retire just like their parents did; but that just isn't going to happen. They're still going to be leaders of changing ways, like it or not.

Retirement planning based on historical stock market growth isn't working. The up-and-down sideways movement of investments are being described as "the new normal" by today's analysts. Savings are not going to allow for most employed Baby Boomers to retire with the same financial assurance they had assumed. Rising health costs, especially for aging Americans, are also making Baby Boomers an attractive target for corporate downsizing. So what can they do when faced with being unable to retire and rapidly becoming unemployable?

The Emotional Challenge is also the Opportunity

There is an emotional dynamic to seeking retirement. Most look forward to it when they're just tired. Not physically exhausted; but emotionally tired of facing issues they cannot resolve day after day. Counselors call it career burnout. The opposite of burnout is career engagement. That's what everyone really wants. Something in our lives that gives us meaningful work as well as income. We enjoy facing problems every day that we are good at solving.

Here is the opportunity. As Business Brokers we know that at any given time 10% to 20% of small business owners in any category are ready to sell their business. Why? They're just tired. It's not that business is bad. Burnout is everywhere. The opportunity is to first find what will engage you; and then find the person who is experiencing burnout doing that because it should be you doing it rather than them. This is easily seen with business ownership and is the strategy we use in the Executive Advocate program for individuals; but the effect is everywhere. The business model approach can be used by anyone, even if it doesn't lead to starting or buying a business.

Business Model YOU

A community of international business and human resource advisers are completing a Do It Yourself Reinvention manual for release early in 2011. The title is Business Model YOU, after the best selling manual, Business Model Generation. Once available, anyone can work through a systematic approach to discover their career engagement opportunities and develop an approach to making a living with them. Tim Clark has written several introductions to the Business Model YOU process. Jumpstarting your career is a high level overview; and there is another where he likens it to working on an MPA, a Masters of Personal Administration.

Those in North Texas are also able to attend Personal Business Model Workshops.  These introduce Personal Business Models and then the development of your own Personal Brand by applying life experiences to your model. From that perspective, it's easier to see if any opportunity under consideration makes good business sense. The results can be a simple as a renewed perspective of a current position to opening-up entirely career vistas.

A Reinvention Community

At 25 or 30 it's easy to start a venture and not worry too much about it. If things don't work out, it's good experience and there is plenty of time for another career. Baby Boomers don't have that luxury. A career transition at this point in life has to work. There cannot be too much put into mitigating the risk. In addition to the individual programs and small group workshops already mentioned, an online community can provide valuable feedback. Recognizing this growing need, the AARP has started one they call The Reinvention Group. There is no cost to join. Expect to find many more over time.

Reinventing yourself at over 50 starts as a scary proposition; but if done with care, it succeeds in being the right thing at the right time. Consider how much of America's wisdom and experience is contained within the Baby Boomers. Not only do they financially and emotionally need to stay engaged, our country still badly needs them

Career burn-out is inescapable when the individual and their job have become mismatched. This insidious condition presents itself with 6 well known symptoms.
1)  No time - The demands of your work exceed your capacity to handle it.
2) No authority - Others have control over you.
3) No rewards - Money and recognition have become insufficient.
4) No community - You are becoming more and more isolated in your job.
5) Unfair to You - You are being treated unfairly
6) Unfair to Others - You are being asked to treat others in ways you believe to be unfair.

There is a mistaken belief that these are symptoms of someone who just isn't "tough" enough to make it in the real world. A problem with career burn-out is that by the time the misalignment between your strengths and your career has reduced your effectiveness, your self esteem has also been worn to the point you start believing this fable. Rounds of renewed personal effort continue as your career leads nowhere.

Starting a career change is tough. It means going into the unknown without any assurance that life will actually get better. Most don't have the heart for it unless pushed by circumstances (like a health problem or job loss). But it is possible to match yourself to your career. A powerful way to do this to see yourself as a personal business.

You don't need to quit your job to begin the process. The new guide being published in early 2012, Business Model You, goes through the process. For those tried of working for others, Business Franchise counselors also offer similar guidance in examining your personal business strengths. In the end, everyone needs answers to not only what you do and how you do it, but most importantly, why.