Building your business vision is the best investment you can make right now. Knowing where you want to go with your business will help shape everything else that follows.
It will provide clarity that will shape your mission, your values, your brand strategy, your business strategy, your customer strategy and customer experience, your sales and your marketing strategies, your product and service development… quite literally everything in your business.
So perhaps you’ve come across the VMV acronym before – Vision, Mission and Values. And it’s quite likely that you’ve been told how important it is to build your business vision. But the value is in whether you’ve actually done it.
Let’s take a little bit of time out today to identify the ways that your vision affects your business – positively, if done right, negatively, if not done at all (or done in a less-than-desired way).
First things first…
What is a business vision?
Your business vision is your North Star. It is the final destination you want to eventually get to. It is the reason you created your business, the deep reason – your why.
And it is this deep reason or “why” that gives you fulfillment.
Most business visions are so aspirational that they might never be achieved, and that’s ok. It’s good to be aspirational. But your vision doesn’t have to be so aspirational that you’ll forever be striving to achieve it. It can be something more achievable. But it is important that your vision be something that inspires you.
Here are some examples of how you can shape your vision statement:
- To eradicate [something you work towards getting rid of, e.g. hunger]
- To increase / create more [something that you work towards increasing, e.g. female CEOs or founders]
- To be the best at [whatever it is you do/provide/create/produce/make available]
- To bring [something] to [type of location / people]
Why is a vision so important?
Your vision is the guiding light, the destination, the ultimate goal of your business.
Without a vision, the biggest issue you’ll almost certainly face is that your efforts won’t be aligned. What does that mean? It means you’ll be doing things that move you in some direction, but not necessarily towards where you want to be. And different things will move you in different directions, so your cumulative efforts will be scattered, not stacked. Why is that an issue? Other than not getting closer to your goal, unaligned action means you’ll be busy all the time, but you won’t see the desired outcome from your effort. That in turn can – and most likely will – lead to becoming unmotivated and burnt out.
How does articulating a vision help?
- It helps you identify your mission. Once you have a business vision in mind – the destination, the ultimate goal of your business – you can identify your mission. Your mission is the “how” to your vision. If your vision is to help 1,000,000 women start their own businesses, then the “how” describes what your business will be doing to achieve that vision. Perhaps it’s by having a membership-based community that supports and provides frameworks, information and guidance to women starting their businesses.
- It helps frame your brand strategy… and your business strategy… and your sales strategy… and your marketing strategy… and your product or service development… and your customer strategy… you get the point. The reason why it has such an impact on everything that follows is because your vision describes your destination. And all the other strategies that you build into your business (like your brand strategy, your business strategy etc) are designed in such a way to get you to that destination, to that vision. [Little side note here: Do you see how not having a vision can result in each of these critically important strategies then veering off their own path? Without a common destination in mind, you could end up creating a brand strategy that takes you one way, and a marketing strategy that takes you another way, and a business strategy that doesn’t align with either.]
- It reduces anxiety, stress, burnout, and all the other feelings associated with overworking and not seeing the results you want to see. Why? Because your actions will be aligned. Because your strategies will be aligned. Because your efforts will be created in such a way that they drive you towards your vision. And on that note…
- It creates fulfillment. Because seeing how you’re making a positive impact on the thing that drives you is fulfilling. And…
- Seeing your ultimate goal get positively impacted through your actions is the thing that will keep you going through the tough times. Because there will be tough times; there always are. But knowing what you’re working towards and seeing how you can and do make a difference is a big motivator. It’s the biggest motivator, in fact.
So, Sarah – what’s your vision?
I was hoping you’d ask!
There is a reason I work with entrepreneurs. I want to help build more heart-based and values-based businesses. I want to see more entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed. I want to create that movement, that ripple effect.
Also, I find that entrepreneurs and small businesses deliver their products and services with heart, with a lot of care, with genuine appreciation for their customers. I want to create more of that.
And lastly, I want to give back and help others give back to non-profit businesses. And I find that a lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses do that. And they do it, again, from the heart.
So, having introduced my background thoughts, this is my vision:
My vision is to create a world where people are successful doing the things they love, delivering from their hearts and making the world a better place.
And now it’s your turn
If you don’t already have a vision, create one. Dig deep. Find out why you do the thing you do in your business.
And ask yourself: what impact do I want to have on the world?
