Re-envisioning Your Business and Why it will Move you Forward

By Christina Suter on Jan 13, 2014 at 02:30 PM in Business Issues

As we begin fresh with this New Year, let us start by focusing on the visioning for your business and the reason you stopped your old job and began your business in the first place. It all started with a vision, maybe in the middle of the night or while working for your boss and deciding you could do what they did, better. We care about the vision because it’s the thing that moved you into being a leader and business owner. When you first began, did you write it, share it, or flush it out? If not, do so now and assess how far you’ve gone with that vision. Visions are big, so, maybe you’ve only created the foundation so far, but whatever progress you’ve made, write out what your vision was originally and track your progress up to this point.

Once you’ve done this, think about what you have learned so far. What have you sacrificed, what failures and successes have you experienced, and what has it taught you? Have your finances dictated the direction of your business? Has your business model shifted based on what you’ve learned so far from running your business? Write out the lessons learned about who your customers are and how they behave. What have you learned about your employees? What have you discovered that they need from you as a leader? What have you learned about your products and what has shifted since your original products? What have you learned about your financial goals? Are you hitting your original goals, financially? How have your marketing plans changed?

Your last step is to grab a clean piece of paper and re-envision it. What is your vision now? No matter how many years in you are, what is the new vision you have for your business? What will be new for your team, customers, products, finances, and marketing plan? What’s the change you’re making to the planet? What good do you contribute? Re-enliven your vision by making a vision board, make the center of the vision board the largest and central part of the new vision for your company, and expand from there. Or, write out an, ‘a day in the life’ of your business and make that the new vision or goal. Create the goal for 20 years, 10 years, 5 years, 1 year, or whatever increments you wish and share it with your team, your family, your mentor, business coach, or whatever person or group of people are important to your business success. Go over the re-envisioned goals with the marketing team and assess if changes need to be made. Recommit to the timelines, give yourself some time, and start the year off smart by creating a new vision for your business and watch it continue to grow.