Last week, we began talking about writing your business vision statement.

Just to review, your business vision statement is where you are looking toward the future – you are looking at where you want your business to go and what you want to achieve over the long term. I gave you a few questions to consider to start writing that vision statement.

Well, take out your notes, and get ready to work! This week we’re going to start putting those thoughts and ideas into a comprehensive, short, enlightening, enticing, and exciting statement that you can use as your guiding light to where you want your business to go. This statement is also going to help you show your clients (and any partners or employees you choose to take on) your business vision, to help make sure that everyone is aligned.

Real World Examples

Let’s look at a few business vision statements to get some ideas of what’s possible:

Fenty Beauty: To inspire. Makeup is there for you to have fun with.

CURLS: To make CURLS accessible to every curl, everywhere.

Black Girl Sunscreen: To start the conversation globally around sun safety to educate and protect melanin beauties worldwide.

A vision statement does not have to be long or involved, but it should have these things in it:

  • A clear direction and purpose for your business
  • The long-term aspirations and objectives of your business
  • Your values
  • Inspiration for future actions.

The last two are especially important – your business will reflect your values, and you’ll need inspiration when things get tough (which they will). Your business vision statement should reflect this.

So read over your notes. Highlight the ones that seem most important. Rank the ideas in order of importance. Are there some that are contradictory? Which ranks higher? How do you feel about erasing the one that ranks lower in importance? If you feel a little icky about it, explore why. Maybe it’s more important than you thought? How can you integrate the conflicts?

Once you have a good list, write out your vision in long form. Use as many words and as much space as you need. Focus on writing your vision in a way that makes sense to you, and that includes everything that’s important. It’s much easier to simplify it later than to add to it later.

Now step back and read it over. Are your values reflected? Is it ambitious? Is it scary? (Ambitious scary can be good – terrifying scary, maybe not.) Is it accurate? Does it make sense?

You might repeat this process a few times until it feels right to you, but you’ll know you’ve got it when your statement is easy to read, inspiring, ambitious, reflects your values, and offers a clear idea of your company’s path forward.

Never Final

You are a growing, living, changing entity. So is your business! And therefore, so is your vision. Your business vision statement will change and evolve as you and your business change and evolve. Every year or so, check your vision statement to make sure it is still true for you and your business. If it isn’t, now you know how to revise it to make it yours again!

And if you’re still having trouble putting it together, I can help! Just click the link here to schedule a call with me.

Next week, we’ll start talking about a second important part of your business framework – your business mission statement. Stay tuned!

What are some ideas you plan in include in your business vision statement? Please comment below!