Welcome to the first of a series of articles where I hope to encourage you to think about what you want from your business, and begin to introduce to you some small changes that will help build on your business success to give you the life you deserve.

In this first article, I think it is appropriate to explore Vision, which I believe is the single most important consideration for a business owner, yet often is seen as either irrelevant or well down the list of priorities.

First of all, what do I mean by Vision? For me, it’s the dreams, the aspirations and the hope that we all have for ourselves and those close to us. Our Vision may be described in terms of financial reward, lifestyle choice or whatever works for you but, until we know what it is, how can we begin to develop our business to deliver in a way to support it?

So, why do I consider it so important? Well, once you have a clear Vision you can start to put in place the steps needed to build your business around it. Let me explain:

Two people, each made redundant, set out to build a window cleaning business.  The first builds the business to a comfortable level where income matches his lifestyle and he takes on a few workers to expand his business to give a bit extra in his pocket each month.  His perpetual enemy is the weather; his worst case scenario is personal poor health or injury. The second person starts exactly the same way as the first, but he goes on to build his business with a turnover of £22 million, is expanding and is unaffected by poor weather, ill health or injury. The difference was their vision of what they wanted to build.

 We all have a Vision for what we want from life, yet all too often it is lost in the rough and tumble of modern life. Yet, without a clear positive vision you have no clear direction to act on and your business simply meanders aimlessly.

Contrast this with those business owners who know the first steps to building their business and have a clear vision of the reward they want both financially and in terms of lifestyle.  Any mismatch between this vision and reality is fed back and analysed so solutions can be sought, approaches are changed and positive solutions implemented.  Simplistic?  Then why are there so many businesses like the first kind?

A healthy business-vision is all pervasive and permeates through every part of the business giving it an identity that employees and customers can see and feel.  No vision also permeates the business – enough said.

So how do you develop your Vision? Begin by answering the following honestly:

Why am I doing what I am doing?

Who am I doing it for?

What do I really want?

Is my business supporting me to deliver this?

If it isn’t, what does it need to be like in the future to give me the life I deserve?

What plans do I have in place to move my business to where it needs to be?

So, has that make you think? Are you simply earning a living, or designing a life?

To be what you want to be, first you have to imagine where you want to get to. You need to have a Vision for your life which will then lead to the Vision for your business

You can learn how to open yourself up to building a successful business. Try our workshop on this most important aspect of building your business; it could change your life.

Alternatively if you would like to explore how we can help you achieve business success, reply to this email for a free business review meeting where we will explore how to help you build the business you dream of.