>>>Begin with the end in mind…

‘Begin with the end in mind.’ This quote by Steven Covey is one of my favourites, and one that I refer to often both personally and with my clients. The ‘end’ state to me is vision, one of the most essential building blocks of a successful, sustainable and thriving business.

What happens when vision is cloudy, obscured or non-existent? Work becomes a slog, and the fun and joy in the everyday is diminished and of course, this has a subsequent negative impact on the business and on the person behind the business.

My clients are women solopreneurs and I work with them to streamline their 6 figure businesses to work strategically to scale a profitable, lifestyle business. A clear vision is as critical to their success as is their systems and services.

Put simply, vision is what we aspire to.  It’s how we see our future state and informs the roadmap or mission of how we live our lives.

Without vision, we have no guiding light to work towards and our days can start to feel quite pointless in the grand scheme of things.

We need to know that the core of our day to day lives is grounded in something meaningful, something bigger than us. Clarity of vision allows us to fulfil our potential and gives meaning to all those seemingly mundane tasks that drive our business. It simplifies decision making by allowing us to approach every decision within a content that supports our choices.

I’ve been working with a fabulous client in the past couple of months to really hone in on her vision. Uncovering the deeper understanding of why you do what you do is a big job, no doubt about it.

Defining a vision is something that gets relegated lower and lower down the priority list in the busy day to day of running a business. However when someone takes a deep dive into their vision, the effects are almost immediate, as I’ve (re)discovered with my work with this specific client.

My client is three years into her business. She says she ‘fell into business’, but in the hurry and rush of business life hasn’t had the headspace to explore the deeper understanding of why she does what she does.

Now, three years later, she struggles to see the meaning in her work. She’s bored and unmotivated.  She says she’s not getting new leads, she’s not getting new clients, and it all feels a bit ‘meh.’

Together, we went back to basics. What was the embryonic feel behind her launching her business, beyond the circumstances of her ‘falling’ into it? What’s the trigger? What’s the emotion behind her trading her skills, knowledge and experience for money?

As above, it’s a big job with big thinking. Tears were shed as we went through the gamut of emotions through uncomfortable thinking and difficult questions about her drivers.

On the other side of the process, however, is huge clarity, followed by transformation, and then momentum as she fell in love with her business again. This connection to her vision makes everything in her business feel easier, especially marketing her services. When we know why we do what we do, other people can connect with our purpose and want a piece of it for themselves!

In theory, a vision should be easy to articulate. In reality, however, it can be really quite tricky, and sometimes confronting. The monkey chatter in our minds and the roadblocks we create for ourselves can get in the way of the big thinking and dreaming you need to confirm your vision.

When was the last time you gave yourself permission to dream big for your business, to really deep dive into your purpose, your why? It’s not a process you need to do solo. I’d love to work with you to uncover your vision. Please just reach out.