Late last year, I started feeling a little bit disconnected from my work. I was lacking a deep sense of purpose and my vision felt a little fuzzy.
I think we can have a love affair with our business. And just like with any relationship, our feelings can fluctuate. Sometimes we can disagree, and not feel quite so close.
When I actually paused and had a look at why that was happening, I found the reason. I hadn’t actually articulated my purpose, my vision, my mission for my business in a really clear and tangible way. It was in my head, and it was definitely in my heart, but I hadn’t actually put it out on paper and put it in front of me where I could reconnect to it every day.
We all have wobbly days in business, some really challenging times when things are not flowing the way you anticipated. You can be feeling disappointed, invisible, and wondering, is this all worth it, asking yourself why you’re actually doing this at all.
It’s when you have these days that you want to be able to turn back to your purpose, your vision and your mission, to remember why it is that you’re doing what you do. In this episode, I’m sharing a simple framework that will allow you to easily create your own along with three great examples from my clients.
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Show Notes
Why is having a clear Purpose, Vision, Mission important?
Why is it important to have these 3 cascading statements clear? I’ve discovered three key benefits.
Purpose keeps you anchored on the bad days
We all have wobbly days in business, some really challenging times when things are not flowing the way you anticipated. You can be feeling disappointed, invisible, and wondering, is this all worth it, asking yourself why you’re actually doing this at all.
It’s when you have these days that you want to be able to turn back to your purpose, your vision and your mission, to remember why it is that you’re doing what you do. That’s when you can re-energise, reconnect, refocus because there it is right in front of you. You can take a great big deep breath, remind yourself of the bigger picture, pull yourself up out of your funk up and keep on moving forward.
Your Vision and Mission provide a filter for decision making
In this context, it means that when an opportunity presents itself, you can ascertain if it actually is an opportunity, or if it’s actually a distraction, one of those bright, shiny options that are masquerading as something else.
When you have your purpose, vision and mission statements right in front of you, you can look at the opportunity, you can hold it up against these and ask yourself, “does this take me closer to that vision? Is it aligned with my purpose? Does it fit with my mission, or does it not”?
Having this filter so that you can make these decisions and choices more easily is invaluable. It keeps you on the path to make sure that you actually gaining traction, not just taking action. When you have clarity on your destination, it’s much easier to identify the path that takes you there.
You can share how you stand for something deeper than just what you sell
Standing for something bigger than just what you sell is such a core part of our next chapter businesses. At this stage of life, in particular, I, and 99.9% of the women that I support, have this real desire for our businesses to have true meaning. It’s this desire to leave a legacy, a feeling that you’ve contributed something of significance to the world.
My core service is Business and Life Mentoring for women in their 40’sand beyond and I deliver this through one to one programs, Masterminds, VIP Days and Retreats. That’s pretty standard in the market, I’m really not alone here.
But why do I do it? What’s underneath the service itself? That’s where my purpose and vision kick in. What I really stand for and believe in sets me apart:
To connect women with their self-worth so they can take consistent, confident action on their business and life goals.
I stand for women truly recognising, claiming and owning their value, especially at this time in our lives when we may have lost connection with that deep worth because of how we’ve been socialised and because we’ve often focused on other people’s needs for a long time.
A compelling purpose can allow people to resonate and connect with you, to want to come on the journey with you. Or conversely, it can actually help them recognise that you’re not such a good fit, and that is just as important. You don’t need to convince and convert people, rather it’s all about contributing and communicating.
Purposeful Marketing Messaging
Once you have this clarity, you can share your purpose, vision and mission, right through the copy on your homepage, on your about page, across your social platforms, on your podcast in your videos. Weaving in your thoughts really gives people a great sense of connection. Congruent messaging across your platforms reinforces your positioning.
Now you can see the importance of having these statements, let’s look at how you actually create them.
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