Business vision, mission, business plans – terms often used interchangeably, but each has a very different focus. I want to focus on your business vision here, as it’s from your business vision that your business plan will flow.

Business mission – “A strongly felt aim, ambition, or calling.”

Business vision – “The ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.”

Definitions from Oxford English Dictionaries

So, your mission is the reason your business exists – your ambition, or strongly felt aim. Your passion.

Pin to your business growth board https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/244320348521441755

Your vision is bringing your mission to life.

Creating your business vision

You may have a very clear vision for your business, and know what the future holds as you grow your business. You may know that if you carry out x plan, you’ll get y result for your business and z result for your customers.

Or, you may struggle with this aspect of business planning. So, let’s break it down to get the steps clear.

• Know who your ideal customer is and how your business product and/or service helps them fulfil a need or desire.

For example: My ideal customer is someone who is anxious about their future and their health. My therapy business helps them become less anxious with x treatment

• Know what your business is offering to customers. Be clear about the products and services you’re able to offer right now, and those you’d like to offer in the future when you have more time / staff / money / space

For example: My business offers relaxation treatments and products. My business offers teaching skills to become less anxious. I offer personal coaching and support to help customers be less anxious and use their new skills and products they’ve bought from the business

• Know how much time you’ve got available for growing your business. Whilst you want to become over-subscribed, (this is a brilliant book by Daniel Priestley I highly recommend), you don’t want to be personally over-whelmed and try to do too much, which may result in poorer customer service.

For example: I have 20 hours a week to see clients, which allows me to earn what I need to pay my bills and save for my annual holidays. I need 5 hours a week for marketing and 3 hours a week for admin and book-keeping. As my time with clients is quite exhausting I need to spread out my time with clients, so I can rest and reflect in between each client, so I offer the best possible service to them, each time I see them.

• Imagine how you will grow your business to help even more customers once you reach your maximum level of work load. What are the options available to you?

For example: I want to work with another therapist so that we can jointly offer more variety of solutions to anxious people who are ready to reduce their anxiety. 

Can you see that by getting the answers to these questions you’ll have a very clear vision of your business growth plan, which you can then start to add detail to to create your month by month business plan? For example: I want to have 5 clients a week by month 2 & 10 clients a week by month 6.

Once you’ve created your clear business vision, everything you do will be focused on this statement, or group of statements. You’ll find it easier to make decisions in your business, and your life, as you’ll know what you’re aiming for.

If you need help creating your business vision, join the 5 day business challenge and get your business off the blocks

Do you have a clear business vision? Do you follow these steps, or do you have other things you think about when creating and updating your vision? Leave a comment below.