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Many business owners put off writing a mission statement. Who has time to write down why you\u2019re in business when you\u2019re busy trying to run one! And perhaps even fewer owners have created a vision statement \u2014 possibly because they\u2019re not sure what the term even means.<\/p>\n
There are good reasons for creating both. Lenders, investors and job candidates appreciate strong, clear mission statements. And vision statements can give interested parties a clear idea of where a business is heading. In addition, you and your staff may benefit from the focus and direction that comes from articulating your mission and vision.<\/p>\n
Describe your purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with a mission statement. Its purpose is to express to the world why you\u2019re in business, what you\u2019re offering and whom you\u2019re looking to serve. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor has this as its mission statement:<\/p>\n To foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.<\/p>\n Forget flowery language and industry jargon. Write in clear, simple, honest terms. Keep the statement brief, a paragraph at most. Answer questions that any interested party would want to know, such as:<\/p>\n Presumably, you know the answers to these questions. But putting them down on paper may help renew your commitment to your original or actual mission, or it may reveal some areas where you\u2019ve gotten off track. For example, if your target demographic is Millennials, have you maintained that focus or wandered off course a bit?<\/p>\n Proclaim your ambition<\/strong><\/p>\n So, a mission statement essentially explains why you\u2019re here, what you do and who you\u2019re looking to serve. What does a vision statement do? It tells interested parties where you\u2019re headed and what you ultimately want to accomplish.<\/p>\n A vision statement should be even briefer than your mission statement. Think of a tag line for a movie or even an advertising slogan. You want to deliver a memorable quote that will get the attention of readers and reinforce that you\u2019re not looking to make a quick buck. Rather, you\u2019re moving forward into the future while providing the highest quality products or services in the here and now. For instance, the trademarked vision statement of the Alzheimer\u2019s Association is simple and aims high: \u201cA world without Alzheimer\u2019s and all other dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n Get inspired<\/strong><\/p>\n Should you bring your operations to a screeching halt so everyone can work on a mission and vision statement? Certainly not. But if you haven\u2019t created either, or haven\u2019t updated them in a while, it\u2019s a worthwhile strategic planning task to put together the language and see what insights come of it. We\u2019d be happy to review your statements and help you tie them to sound budgeting and financial planning.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2020<\/em><\/p>\n <\/body> Many business owners put off writing a mission statement. Who has time to write down why you\u2019re in business when you\u2019re busy trying to run one! And perhaps even fewer owners have created a vision statement \u2014 possibly because they\u2019re not sure what the term even means. There are good reasons for creating both. Lenders, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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