“Where can I take my business next?”
Some business owners take the time to create a vision for their business and some even go on to create a strategy to achieve it. However, many fail to realise their vision because they fail to take the action necessary to make it happen!
The key is to create a vision for your business that leverages two fundamental human drivers, so that it actually motivates you (and the others in the business) to take action!
So firstly, what is a vision?
Well, put simply, a vision is a picture in the imagination and it’s usually a long-term view of the future. In a business context, it’s an image of how the business owner wants the business to be in the future and so it provides a destination to which the business is moving and therefore essential direction.
It also includes the core values that drive the ethos and culture of the business and importantly, a vision forms the basis of the strategy and all activity going forward, providing a framework within which all decisions are made.
Most importantly though, an effective vision is one that both inspires and motivates the people in the business to take action, and not just any action, but the specific action necessary to make it happen. If it doesn’t do that, then it is of little use.
How to create a Business Vision in three simple steps:
STEP ONE: Define your intent.
Intent is about the ‘what’. It’s about what you want your business to be like.
Your ‘what’ stems from your desires. In others words, the specific outcomes you desire most in your business. It’s about clarifying the kind of work you want to be doing and with and for whom, it’s about defining where you want to be working from, both in terms of environment and location and it’s about what you want to be charging, the results you want to be getting, what you want people to be saying about you and the lifestyle you want as a result of having that business success.
When your vision leverages your genuine desires, it can’t help but inspire and motivate you to take action.
STEP TWO: Define your purpose.
Purpose is about the ‘why’. It’s about the ‘reason’ you want what you want.
Your ‘why’ stems from your personal values which very simply are the things that are most important to you. And because your personal values are the things that are most important to you, they are your deepest driving force. It’s about what your intent means to you on an emotional level. So in other words, it’s about the ‘reason’ you desire specific outcomes. It may be for instance that you desire being known in the market place as an expert. And the reason for that may be that recognition is important to you.
When your vision leverages your why, you will be more than inspired and motivated – you will be literally compelled to take the action necessary to make it reality.
STEP THREE: Make it tangible.
Tangibility is about getting your vision out of your head. It’s about making your vision actionable.
Once you have defined your intent and purpose, you have the basis of a vision. However, because you want your vision to exist as reality at some point in the future, it’s really important that it exists in some tangible form – in other words, outside of your head! Think of creating a tangible vision as literally creating your future history – in other words, creating the outcome as if it exists right now.
The reason for this is that when your vision exists in some form other than in your imagination, your beliefs, thoughts, feelings and importantly, your actions become aligned with it, and when that happens, you find yourself taking the necessary action to make it reality – naturally!
Follow these three steps to creating your business vision and in twelve months’ time, instead of looking back and again wondering why you didn’t realise all your goals, you’ll look back and wonder… where you can take your business next!
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