Can you tell me how to get

to Sesame Streeeeeeet.

It’s our favorite attraction inside of Busch Gardens so we decided to load up the crew and head over there.

The crew is Melissa and I, our 3 monkeys children, and my mother who’s in town - we are blessed to be a homeschool family and have the opportunity to be at the theme park on a school day.

When you go on a “school day” you get lots of face time with Elmo and Rosita and many many many many trips around the Grover Coaster.

So my wife was driving and with 5 voices in her ear, she was leaning on Google Maps pretty heavily to ensure the best route to our destination.

But for Maps to work correctly, Melissa needed to decide a few things first:

1. Where she wanted to go

2. Where she was starting from

3. What resources she had to get there

She needed to design a STRATEGY. (here’s a free strategy design worksheet)

Melissa and Google had to work in tandem to make this happen. To get her from point A to point B.

1. Point A - our house

2. Point B - Busch Gardens

3. Resources - a working car, gas, SunPass for tolls

4. Path - public roads

Some of these feel obvious to you I’m sure, but is it really?

What if:

• We wanted to avoid toll roads

• We didn’t have enough gas for the trip

• There was an accident that blocked the highway

• Melissa didn’t know where exactly we wanted to go

• We didn’t have a car and had to ride bikes

Google needed all these exact inputs to help guide her all along the way.

Luke had Yoda, Dorothy had Glinda, Daniel had Mr. Miyagi, Melissa had Google.

This strategy and guide concept applies in learning Karate, finding your way home, and defeating Darth Vader and it also applies to your personal brand or your business.

When most people think about strategy they think about networking, content calendars, and performance metrics.

I use them of course. I teach people to use them. But these are NOT strategies - they are tools and tactics.

When I think about STRATEGY I think about roads and bridges - just like Google Maps.

I think about creating a plan to help you reach your goal - to get from Point A to Point B in the most efficient way possible.

1. Where do you want to go with your brand?

   “To be the ___”, “To provide ____”, To create ____ “

2. Where are you right now?

   <$10k a month, $10-50k a month, >$50K a month

3. What resources do you have?

   Time, money, skills, energy, staff, experience, etc.

4. What path do you want to take?

   speed, cost, risk, sustainability, effort

Sometimes it seems we’re all aiming to reach the same destination - health, generational wealth, time freedom, social impact, Sesame Street.

And you’re always told the best way is to just copy what someone else did before you.

IT’S NOT.

When we chose to drive to Busch Gardens last week it was just us and Google Maps.

We could not simply follow in the path of the car in front of us - who knows where we’d end up?

We also coudn’t follow the route of someone who drove there the day before.

Even with the same destination we had a different starting point, a different set of resources, a different path with different external conditions.

We needed gas on the way and had to stop again for a toddler potty break, but Google Maps was able to pivot, make alternate plans, and get us back on track.

You see creating a strategy is extremely important but that’s just the beginning.

The key is to have a system for identifying problems and providing solutions to get you back on track and toward your destination.

And that system works best when you have a guide.

Here’s to many sunny days ahead,

Brian “google maps” Orr

P.S. Reply back with your answers from the worksheet. What is your destination? What does your strategy look like?

Designing personal and business brand strategies is a big part of what I do.
If you’d like any help along the way, just shoot me an email to discuss it.