Your Company's Vision

I have the heart of an entrepreneur, and as much as I love doing my work of small business management, what lights me up is helping people transform and experience abundance and freedom. Prioritizing your life and budget helps you achieve your freedom no matter your income level. My business began with a 30-second vision. Did you have a vision when you decided to be a small business owner? Does your vision drive your current business plan? 

You are the leader of your company; you drive its future. Your vision is what you use to develop your company's mission statement and that vision. Did you start your business because you thought you could do something better than what others were offering? Did you see a gap in the market and decide to create a business or service to serve them? Did you see a projection of what your business would look like, who it'd serve, and how big it'd grow? 

Is your company the fulfillment of your vision?

Do you need to change the way you run your company so you can see the fulfillment of your vision? Do things within your vision need to change?

I started a center called Ground Level Center for Mediation that was a space I offered to yoga and healing teachers in exchange for a love donation. That business lit me up; I was passionate about it and passionate about serving the teachers. Three years later I sold the company because it was losing money and I needed to protect my vision of valuing money and not charging people. I had someone tell me I was being stupid by not charging and after I week I realized I held true to my purpose for my company by not charging until the very end, right before I sold it.

Reconnect with your original vision and ask yourself whether you changed it, lost it, let it go, or have you protected it and its original purpose. Does your vision need to be shared or updated? If your business feels dead to you, if you no longer feel joy about it, something has been violated along the way.

An example I love to use is the man and woman who started Urth Cafe, a fair trade shop. They wanted to bring in and dilute the concept of forced labor-- people who aren't treated or paid fairly. Urth Cafe started making their customers fair trade coffee in the mornings and they found people started coming in just for the coffee. They eventually added a few food items and before long their business switched from selling fair trade goods to selling fair trade and organic food. They didn't give up their original purpose, instead, they updated their vision to meet the demand and drive them forward. 

Maybe you need to update your vision with your business partner because the two of you have different visions. Share your vision and mission statement with the top tier of your managers. Tell those who work for you what lights you up and help them understand their vision and role in the business. You must decide whether your company is aligned with your vision or not and if not, to do the work to get yourself and your business back into alignment.