First, I would like to start by debunking the age-long erroneous belief that being an entrepreneur is all bliss. For those that have seen it firsthand, they can tell you that many times they have been tempted to run back to the 9-5 world they left.

You should read this: 3 reasons you should not be an entrepreneur

Being an entrepreneur comes with enormous responsibilities. Especially when you just gave up a salary-guaranteed job to start your baby project. Successful businesses transcend just conceiving an idea and turning it into impacts. They involve a total grasp of one’s idea that not only allows the entrepreneur to understand the space they are disrupting but also allows them to make necessary tweaking needed to make the idea stand the test of time and changes in consumers’ behavior.

A successful business is one that can anticipate and adapt to change, and being immersed in running the business every day should not distract you from thinking about the latest trends and where your business stands.

Successful businesses are the ones that find ways to adapt to change, no matter which direction it comes from.

As Richard Branson notes in a recent blog, “any entrepreneur can tell you it’s easy to get lost in the here and now.” But it’s the company’s leaders’ responsibility to make sure that everyone on staff – from the top down – is able to take a step back every now and again to assess where the business is and what needs to change for it to continue to attract customers.

“Both on the day-to-day level and when you are engaging in planning, there are many variables that you and your team need to monitor, since detrimental factors that are out of your control can escalate quickly and do lots of damages.” he said.

New technological innovations will always come and these developments will continue to influence various industries, it then becomes important for entrepreneurs to plan forward and adequately consider how they will be affected.

But it’s not just technology that’ll change the industries;  consumers behavior will also change. A case in point is the travel industry, where they used to prioritize speed and personal comfort over other factors. Now, new considerations are now becoming equally important, including the certain degree of sustainability that many people look for in their travel choices.

How can you make sure that you have time to think ahead and future-proof your business?

“One of the easiest, and most enjoyable, ways to do this is simply to start a conversation and invite others to join,” says Branson.

Open up a line of discussion with people you know, from experts to lay men. That way your eventual decision will not be abstract but geared towards the people.

Though it might not be feasible for every such conversation to be held, but there are many alternatives. Your approach might be as simple as taking your team offsite for an afternoon to brainstorm. If you’re a one-man operation, you might find it useful to invite others from your industry out for a drink, to talk about changes on the horizon that concern you.

When it comes to making time to think about the future of your business, do whatever you need to do even if it means leaving the office or turning your emails off for an afternoon. As an entrepreneur that hopes to build a business that lasts into the future, making sure that you’re able to plan effectively is an essential skill that you may have to learn by doing.

Remember, building a successful company is not just about making instant impacts, it is more about sustaining the business through different phases of evolution and still have a product/business that people still root for.