How to create a vision statement

The road to business success can be quite a journey and we need to be clear about where we are going. Having a clear vision statement about the business and lifestyle we are looking to create will greatly increase our chances of success.

A few years ago using the power of visioning was considered eccentric. Today, vision statements are rapidly becoming main stream and being used to great effect by top business people and professional athletes.

Yet whilst most large organisations are proud to show off their vision statements, soloists often have difficulty. There can be an urge to just get the business started, yet at the same time a paralysis in moving forward.

Creating a clear vision statement for your business and your life can be fun! Take some time out, ask yourself some key questions and allow yourself to dream.

Where you see yourself in five years time:

Personal

How does your life look?

Where will you be living?

What have you achieved in this time?

How else have you grown personally and spiritually?

How are you a better person?

What are doing in your non-work time?

How do you feel about your life?

Professional

Where are you working?

Where in the world does your business take you?

What hours do you work?

Who are your clients?

What sort of jobs, contracts or work are you doing?

What are your relationships like with your clients?

Financial

How big is your business?

What is your profit?

How much is your personal income?

As you vision your future you should feel a surge of energy and excitement. It’s the same thrill you would have felt as a child before a fun day out or an exciting holiday! If it’s not exciting, you must be missing something, or else why would you want to set out on the journey in the first place?

You can further focus your vision statement down to one year from now, and then six and three months if you like.

Some people like to create a vision board, cutting out inspiring images and words and placing them near their desk. You can also create a video of your vision using software such as Windows Movie Maker. Here you can produce a montage of images and inspirational quotations and play it back with your favourite piece of music as a powerful reminder of your vision.

Not all of us are naturally visual people. Another technique I recommend to help unlock visions is mind mapping. There are many resources available online that explain the concept of mind mapping (see Megan Hills' article on Practical creative planning with mind mapping), as well as free software tools you can download.

For many a stumbling block can be the financial vision. Most people try to build it from the bottom upwards, which can be tricky. How much am I charging per hour, how many hours will I be working, how many contracts will I have? All of these are unknowns and are dependent on so many variables.

I encourage people to use a top-down approach. What personal income do you want? What turnover do you require to generate that level of income? How many billable hours do you want to work? From there you can calculate your ideal hourly rate and the financial element at the core of your vision.

The visioning process can take time. If you get stuck, let it go. Often clarity comes to us when we least expect it. For me it is usually when I am walking on the beach!

A powerful vision statement is often the key to success and it is never too late to create one for your business.

Peter Morgan is a Personal and Business Coach, Group Facilitator and Trainer who is dedicated to creating a life he loves and inspiring others to do so too!

4 comments | Add your own

"Talk's cheap" - a successful Vision Statement is short and sweet and practised by everyone in the organisation - whether it be a soloist or thousands. Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
If you go searching for examples of Vision Statements - on the internet I found most people who shared their Vision Statements were charities. I wonder why this is? I revisited my own business plan, to see what my Vision Statement was "to develop a business which fits in with our family lifestyle”. Well I could not quote it verbatim, but that is exactly what I have been able to do (most of the time) and I love it!! Heather Smith from Brisbane
In addition to the vision statement for my business I now have a vision board. The vision board is simply a visualisation of my vision statement. It is a laminated A4 photograph with other pictures stuck to it which shows what I want and value in life. It is a constant reminder and motivator. Last week I achieved one of the bigger visions in a matter of 3 months, I had anticipated it would have taken me about 12, prior to that I had dreamt about that moment for years. It just goes to show if you have a clear vision which you can see everyday you can achieve them much quicker. Sally Murfet, Rural Connections from Tasmania
Thanks for your interesting comments. Grant, I’m not sure I agree that a vision statement necessarily needs to be short and sweet. Sometimes your vision may be huge and so may be your vision statement! I think people often get confused between their vision and their mission. I certainly used to. Your mission is your purpose and hence relates to something to be practiced. Your vision tells you where you are going. It gives you your destination. Ideally your vision will compelling, inspiring and something you revisit and fine-tune continually, and will be something you have a constantly strong sense of rather than necessarily always being able to recount word for word. As Heather says she cannot quote hers verbatim but she’s achieved it. Where most visions and vision statements fail, whether for organisations or soloists, is that they becomes perfunctory items to tick off the check list and are then ignored. And Sally, I’m pleased to hear your vision board is working so powerfully for you! Peter Morgan from Byron Bay | Read my articles

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