Articulate Your Vision

One of the common mistakes of new entrepreneurs is to immediately launch into the strategy and marketing of their idea. It’s tangible, and it allows you to roll up your sleeves and get to work. However, even as you create a strategy, there is something internal that is guiding you. One of Spartina’s principles is: step back and articulate a vision.

Creating a Vision

There are many processes available to help you create a vision (see our best-of-the-web related articles.

A vision goes hand in hand with a mission statement, but is not a mission statement. The vision statement is the inspirational view of the world as it will be after you succeed in carrying out your mission. Use one of the tools, or have an outside facilitator work with you to articulate your vision. (Company Retreats.)

Vision Wakes You Up

Your vision is what will wake you up each day, ready to tackle the challenges of business. It must be alive for you, and fresh, or you will give up when facing the many obstacles that might arise. (You need Perseverance). It is a message that is greater than your own immediate needs, and taps in the human capacity and desire to be of service to others in some way. What is your vision of how you can make the world a better place through your new business?

Vision Inspires and Enlists Others

A clear and compelling statement of your vision inspires others to support you. You are already inspired. You wouldn’t be launching or growing this business if you weren’t. However, taking the time to articulate the vision gives other people access to your inner world. Whether it is for raising more capital, inviting board members, or recruiting employees, a clear vision is essential. It is the road map of where you want to go in the long term, and far more interesting than the nuts and bolts of the pile of work staring you in the face. Think of the impact of these visions:

• Microsoft’s vision: “A personal computer in every home running Microsoft software.”

• John Kennedy: “By the end of the decade, we will put a man on the moon.”

Vision Sets Your Direction

One of the best business cartoons we’ve seen was a man on a rapidly moving train, facing backwards, with the caption, “It doesn’t matter how fast you are going, if you are going in the wrong direction.” Your vision is the compass by which you will steer all your decisions, including your strategic plan, mission and goals. It is the big picture. It is your vision of how the world will change because of your success, even if today, you have no clue as to how it will happen. Think of Columbus presenting his case to Queen Isabella. He wanted to reach India by going West because he had a vision of a round earth and was ready to prove that vision was true. Of course, he wound up getting elsewhere, but without his vision, he’d still be sitting in Spain. What is your vision of the new world?