Your Business NEEDS a Vision
I came straight from a client meeting to share this message today, because it’s been coming up SO MUCH lately, I think everyone needs to hear it.
Before we dive in, I’ve got two options for you: if you like, you can jump to the video where I’ll talk you through all this. Or, if you prefer to read (like me!) stay right here. It’s completely up to you.
If you’re a business owner, your vision is EVERYTHING, and here’s why:
No vision =
No direction
No clarity
No motivation
No focus
No results.
Without your vision in in place, there’s no point starting to invest in marketing. If you start trying to build a marketing plan, allocate your priorities or build out your message WITHOUT getting clear on your vision first, you will turn in circles. (I see this happen All. The. Time.)
Because when you try to plan actions, without a clear vision – you could do ANYTHING. You could say ANYTHING. You could prioritise ANYTHING.
It’s all equal, it’s everything and nothing, until the moment you commit to get fully, honestly and truthfully clear about what you want to achieve the most.
It pays to be precise
Two recent examples from conversations over the last couple of weeks:
‘I want to be a millionaire and make a big impact’
‘I want to be no. 1 on Google’
That’s a great start – but unless you’ve got a whole shedload of detail to back it up and stand behind it, those are not visions. Those are just big words.
To go from big words to Big Vision, ask yourself these questions:
Who is it for: what kind of people will benefit, when your Big Vision is real?
Doing what kind of work? Dive into the detail: what will your work-life look like, when your Big Vision is your reality?
Doing it in what distinctive way? What is it that makes YOUR Big Vision unique, interesting, credible - different from the hundreds and thousands of others out there?
By whom do you want to be known? (You’re not going to be the universal no. 1 listing on all of Google, after all - so who would you LOVE to reliably, consistently find you?)
The important thing to about designing a Big Vision, is that once you have it - it will become your North Star. It will be the clarity that guides you.
It will help you to make every decision in a way that feels good, feels reliable, feels worthy of YOUR trust, so that you know you’re building your way towards somewhere that you actually want to be.
Without that vision to guide you, you could do anything at all, at any crossroad. And that is where confusion, overwhelm, self doubt and self-sabotage creep in.
Build your big vision NOW
So, if your vision isn’t something you’ve thought about lately, then what I’d love you to do today in your business is to block out some time and focus on designing the future you REALLY want.
There are two good reasons why you should do that:
First of all, this will be fun.
You get to be creative! You get to imagine your business, your impact, and your business owner life, exactly the way you once dared to dream they would be.
It might feel a bit scary; it might feel as though the future you’re designing is a long way from where you are right now – but it’s a fun thing to do.
Secondly, only once you’ve designed the future that you want, can you start building your way towards it.
If you don’t find the courage to dig deep enough to figure out what you REALLY want from your business-owner life, and to envision what you want to GIVE back to the world, then all you’ve got is big words - and that’s not enough to keep you going when times get tough.
The fact that marketing is hard, will stop you. The fact that visibility is uncomfortable, will stop you. The uncertainty and doubt that comes from asking yourself at every turn, which way now? Should I do this, or do that? Where should I focus my energy? All that will stop you.
Your vision is the one thing that can make you unstoppable, and that’s why vision comes before strategy. It comes before plans, and it comes before action.
Let your vision take the lead on everything, and everything else will get easier.
What do I need to fix in my marketing right now?
Is my website right?
Am I on the right social media channels?
Should I be on social media at all – or should I be spending my time quite differently?
(This was a real life example that came up for my client last week).
The answers to all these questions, lie in your vision.
There’s no right or wrong choice
There is no wrong choice, nor any right choice in terms of how you ‘a business’ should be run, in the grand context of the world - but there is a right and a wrong action for YOU in YOUR business, right NOW.
The only way to figure out which is which, is to get really clear on what YOUR end game is: work out what you want to achieve, in what timeline – and to build back from there.
There’s no such thing as a get-rich-quick marketing sticking plaster – but there is the freedom to find your own clarity of direction; to find your own focus; to set your own course; to build the future that you really want … and to put it out there.
Only by doing that, can you begin to ensure that the RIGHT people - the ones who are going to enjoy the type of work that you do, who are going to benefit from the transformation that you want to offer, who want to go on the same journey that you want to go on - will know to get on board.
Because that is what successful marketing is all about.
It’s about getting the right people on board with you, so that you can enjoy that journey TOGETHER – so that everyone can enjoy the experience.
You’re not for everybody - and not everybody is for you.
Not every person in the world is a perfect client for you. You wouldn’t enjoy working with every single one of them. Your job in getting clear about your vision, is to design the future that YOU want the most. Only then can you intentionally build it, and bring the right people on board for the journey.
I would love it if you would set aside some time in your diary this week to start mapping out your vision: the destination that you and your business are heading for.
If you could use a hand, download my free Big Vision Workbook to get started: I created it to support business owners like you, to build the future success that THEY believe in.