Written by: Paul Arnold, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Does your business have a vision and a purpose? One of the most critical things in a business plan is having a solid vision and mission statement. They demonstrate the north star for your business. They provide clear direction of where your business is going and what you hope to achieve. The vision and mission statement provide the compass for your business strategy. When your run into obstacles, they give you a solid foundation to keep your business alive.
Here are 6 reasons why it is essential to have a Vision and Mission statement for your Business:
Vision and Mission statements define the purpose of an organization. It gives a sense of identity and belonging to the employees. In turn, this helps to motivate employees to achieve more success in their job.
It provides a “North Star” goal for the organization and gives a clear sense of direction where it is going. This allows the business to focus on an objective that it is striving to achieve.
By having a focus mission statement helps align the resources of an enterprise towards a successful future.
The mission statement provides the owner or management with a clear and effective guide when it comes to making important decisions. The vision statement provides the direction so that any decisions will align with the long-term goals.
The vision and mission statement help to align all the staff of an organization. This, in terms, increases the efficiency and productivity of the business process and systems.
The vision and mission statement are important tools for strategic planning. They help to guide and shape the strategy that is well aligned to achieve the desired outcome for the future.
What is your mission?
Your Mission statement defines your business, your business goals and strategies to achieve objectives. Start with defining what your product or service is in layman’s terms.
The first step is to define your product or service without sounding “salesy” or marketing. For a Financial Advisor, you sell investment products, including stocks, bonds, GICs, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds. For a realtor, your product is residential home commercial real estate.
The next step is to define the service or value you provide to your clients and figure out what differentiates you from everyone else in your market. What is the reason one would do business with you, your product or service, rather than doing it themselves?
Typically, the biggest differentiator is YOU!
For example:
a. For a financial advisor, your service may include retirement plans, estate plans and investment strategies.
b. Services for a Realtor would be buying or selling your home. It could also include providing a local market analysis or the area where you are buying or selling. It could be a marketing strategy including local listings, open houses, or virtual viewings and direct marketing to other realtors.
Ultimately it is the purpose and objective related to your customer needs and team values. You want to define your target market here and the end goal of your business. Do you help established business owners manage recruiting and human resources? Do you help women ages 25-55 get more fit and healthy through a structured diet and innovative exercise routine? You should have a specific target market. If you can’t be specific at the start, strive to define your target market in your second year after you experiment with several profitable target markets.
Your mission statement describes where you want to be and how you will get there. You want to define what your ultimate goal is that you want to achieve. Maybe that is to have your own real estate team. Maybe you want to be a leader in your community and help first-time home buyers find their dream homes.
What is your vision?
Your vision statement describes the desired future position of your company. Your vision is the ultimate goal of what your business will accomplish. It can be combined with a mission to state the business purpose, goals and values. Create your vision of your business and where you want to be in 5, 10, and 20 years.
For example:
a. By 2040, my business will serve 300 family households with $100M in assets and support the local little league baseball league.
b. As a couple’s relationship coach, I want to service 200 family households, improving communication and listening strategies to improve intimacy and well-being. I will be a leader in my community and be an expert in improving relationships. I will do this by improving communication between couples and reducing divorce and separation rates.
Revisit your mission each year
When a composer is creating a symphony, there are three main sections: the Exposition, Development and Recapitulation. When Beethoven was composing this Fifth symphony and he was expressing his notion of fate as he learned that he was losing his hearing, he had the fundamental idea of the 3 repeated notes and end on a lower note, a minor third below. He had an overall framework of the piece, including the main theme, development, and recapitulation (return of the theme) with the fate note theme used throughout.
By having a structure to his symphony, he was able to eventually create his 9th symphony without hearing. Despite the terrible tragedy of losing his hearing, he still overcame this obstacle because he had a plan. The 9th Symphonybecame one of his greatest works and was performed during the teardown of the German Wall separating East and West Germany.
You need to do the same thing in business. You may have a powerful core product or service. You can improvise your way through your business, or you can start with a framework. You should have an overall plan and mission for your business so you can stay on the right course and achieve the objective of your business. Ask yourself: Why is my product or service going to change people's lives for the better? Why should someone buy it? Why would they want my service over someone else’s?
At least once a year, revisit your Business Plan and determine if your business has changed or if it is time to change and adapt to the market. The world may have changed to deal with a global pandemic and you need to realign your Vision and Mission statement. Going through economic challenges like the 9-11 2008 Subprime mortgage crises or the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses were forced to change or pivot their business or risk extinction. Many established retailers that relied on store traffic are going extinct and facing insolvency because of the pandemic and global shutdown.
Your business plan helps you stay focused in accordance with your mission. Ultimately you may want to make the world a better place than how you left it. If the world changes, will you be able to adapt to this change and overcome these unforeseen obstacles?
You should not keep manufacturing CDs or cassette tapes when people are buying music online. Stay present and adapt your business to the changing landscape. Walt Disney started off with cartoons and a Disney playland. They have now launched an online Disney channel to compete with Netflix. If you cannot compete with changes in technology, then partner with someone else who can. Understand what your strengths are and hire to your weakness.
Stay present and update your vision and mission statements at least once per year!
To learn about more 20 important business principles, order Business StrategySuccess Principles here. Also available through Amazon and Morgan James Publishing.
Paul Arnold, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Paul Arnold published his first book Business Strategy Success Principles, to help business owners and entrepreneurs have an action plans to grow their businesses and enjoy and easier life. Paul has started six businesses over the past 14 years, with 30 years in sales and marketing. He is a business strategy coach and runs a book writing workshop, Adapt and Overcome Innovation and Change Strategy Summit.
