Dare to Declare an Impossible Future
If you have trouble with the word “Impossible Future,” or it makes you feel uncomfortable, then you are on the right track.
Vision is something that distinguishes small business owners from entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have a vision – they’re trying to create something bigger than themselves. The small business owner is self-employed, focusing on the day-to-day operations of the business, and not so much focused on the future. A business vision can transform small business owners into visionary entrepreneurs.
When you dig deep, everybody has a vision of some kind. The key is to write it down. Having clarity of where you want to go is the first step in achieving it.
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The Story
Ultimately, if your vision inspires people in some way that they smile and light up in some way when they hear it, you’ve done it right. If not, then you have work to do!
Almost everyone makes this same mistake: after they’ve shared their vision once, they think, “Well, Not true. You have to share your vision constantly. Hold regular meetings about your company’s vision, as well as your company values, philosophy, mission, and objectives. Work these items into all your communications – your speeches, sales meetings, memos, newsletters, emails, and website. Include them in your e-mails. Put them in your orientation.
Communicate them to all your stakeholders, including employees, investors, lenders, customers, vendors, community organizations – anyone and everyone who has any kind of stake in your organization.
All successful business ventures begin with a vision of how something could be and what the realization of this vision would accomplish. You’ll have to be clear in your mind how you propose to convert this vision into reality if you want to be taken seriously by potential investors, customers, and other stakeholders.
The vision of a business must be clearly stated in such a way that it offers optimism, inspiration, and encouragement to all stakeholders. It must reflect the business’s aim, purpose and says what it hopes to achieve but also that it intends to secure survival through stabilizing growth and profitability.
The vision statement says what the company hopes to achieve. A vision is an unusual discernment or foresight/sharpness of understanding. It’s a mental concept of a distinct or vivid kind - a highly imaginative scheme or anticipation.
The advantage of having a mission and vision statement is that the entrepreneur has a well-thought-out philosophy with which to lead the enterprise.
Stephen Covey wrote: "Vision is the best manifestation of creative imagination and the primary motivation of human action. It’s the ability to see beyond our present reality, to create, to invent what does not yet exist, to become what we not yet are. It gives us the capacity to live out of our imagination instead of our memory."
Having a vision creates results. It affects the choices we make and the way we spend our time. If our vision is limited we tend to make choices based on the day-to-day operations of the business. When our vision is limited, we react to whatever’s urgent, short-term problems, our limited thoughts, and feelings or other people’s priorities.
If our vision is based on illusion, we make choices that will fail to create the results we expect. Our vision becomes meaningless and boring. We become disillusioned, perhaps cynical.
Having a strong vision, is the most important legacy we can leave. It becomes the primary force that drives everything else in your business. It empowers us to recognize what is really important, to put customers, and employees ahead of schedules and things.
"The key question is not ‘where do you see yourself, but ‘how will you get there?’
‘Attainable’ is the keyword, an attainable goal. The key question is not ‘where do you see yourself, but ‘how will you get there?’ The answer revolves around creative vision. Developing a precise vision of how you will bring your company into being. Vision inspires action.
A positive vision and attitude toward your business are also infectious. Your employees, partners, and any stakeholders become inspired too when you shared it with them. As a business owner, a visionary, you must share your goals with everyone who participates in your enterprise. In that way, they become a part of the dream.
Discover Your Vision by Asking the Right Questions:
“Reach for the stars, and celebrate if you land on the moon”.
Create a vision that is as bigger and bolder than what you can achieve. It’s about what you’re determined to make happen. Do not be worried about the "how" at this stage. If the vision and mission are clear, the mechanism will appear.
A vision is broader than a goal. It articulates the underlying values and sets the context in which goals are selected and pursued. ‘Attainable’ is the keyword here. What is an attainable goal, and how do you transform goals into reality?
So, where do you see yourself, and how will you get there? You must develop a precise vision of how you, the entrepreneur, will bring your company into being. Part of your job is to share your goals with everyone who participates in your enterprise so that they become a part of the dream.
Remember that without a vision of the future, any business will lose direction, purpose, and control in the short run.
5 Steps to Your Business Vision
step 1
Dare to Declare an Impossible Future
Create a mental image of a possible and desirable state of your business. It must be realistic, credible, and an attractive future for the business.
step 2
Understand what contributes to the creation of a vision
What will be the core values of the business?
What is the core purpose of the business such as the reason for being here?
What's the clear, compelling, unifying, and enduring statement that you believe will distinguish your business from others?
By reflecting on these three areas you will be well on the way to creating your business’s vision, a vibrant, energizing, and specific description of what it will be like to achieve your mission.
step 3
Isolate core values
Define what you stand for – and what you stand against, the values that are likely to be meaningful and inspirational.
What core values you live by will you implement in the business?
What would you tell your children one day are the core values that you hold in your business?
step 4
Identify core purpose
The core purpose captures the soul of the business, why it exists. The purpose does not change, but it inspires people into action that creates change. A core purpose differs from a goal in the way that a purpose will never be totally fulfilled.
What will be the purpose of your business?
Why?, Why?,Why?,Why?
Keep on asking why and by the fifth ‘why’ you are close to identifying the core purpose of youir business
step 5
Create your vision
Create a clear picture with words describing the future. Your vision needs to be visible, vivid, and real, it communicates unrealized dreams, hopes, and aspirations. What will it feel like to achieve the vision? Experience the arousing passion and emotionImagine sitting here in several years from today:
What would you love to see?
What should your business look like?
If someone were to write an article for a major business magazine in twenty years' time, what would it say?
step 6
Next is to create yout Mission
Your vision, no matter how great is just a dream unless you have a well-developed strategic mission. In the following article, I will give you a step-by-step plan to creating a mission plan that is based on facts and not a pie in the sky.