Feeling Lost in Your Business? Here’s How to Find Direction And Get Focused On What Matters Most to You

Overwhelm and tigers and bears — oh my!

It happens. Every entrepreneur feels lost at some point in their business. And in that low and lost place, you usually consider burning EVERYTHING down because it feels like there’s no way out. 

Slow your roll, my friend. Put the matches down. It’s time to find your direction again.

In my experience working with clients as an OBM, entrepreneurs lose direction when they lose sight of what’s important to them and why they love doing it!

Of course, they don’t always know that is what’s going on for them. It usually shows up as:

• Being overbooked and overworked
• Feeling exhausted from the grind 
• Working with less-than-ideal clients 
• Hiring less-than-ideal team members
• A sense that something is missing 
• A lack of fulfillment and satisfaction
• A drop in motivation and momentum

When these things pop up, it’s a sure sign that you haven’t anchored your business into its Mission, Values, and Vision!

These are the three core pillars to defining your brand, who you are, and why you do what you do. When you know your Mission, Values, and Vision by heart and feel them in your bones — every decision you make and action you take in your business reflects them. The success that you create as a result is success on your terms.

Mission + Values + Vision = YOUR DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

Tips for Defining Your Mission, Values, and Vision

TIP #1: Review your Mission, Values, and Vision at least annually, with quarterly check-ins to review, revise, and refresh your statements. 

TIP #2: Break up the work into a few sessions. It can help to have a brainstorming session and then an editing session for each category. Bite-sized chunks work just fine! You’re more likely to do this work if you don’t need to block out four hours on your calendar all at once to get it done, anyway.

TIP #3: Each category has a purpose. Focus on achieving that purpose instead of focusing on how long each statement ‘should’ be. I like to keep my statements concise but let them be as long as they truly need to be to get the point across. 

TIP #4: Download my FREE Mission, Values, and Vision guide that makes a great workbook companion to this blog post. 

TIP #5: If you find yourself stuck, get support! This is something I help my clients with. If you’re already working with a business coach or messaging copywriter, they might also be good resources for you. 

Let’s dig into each of these components and how you can use them to revive your sense of direction. 

Your Mission (or Mission Statement)

The purpose of your Mission Statement is to define how, why, and for who your business does what it does. It answers the question, “What are you doing right now for your clients?”

To create your mission statement, you want to think about your services, the results your clients get, and the tangible value you provide. 

This is your chance to differentiate yourself from your competition and share why your business exists!

Try writing out several different versions of your mission statement before deciding on just one. Once you have a statement you’re happy with; you can use your mission statement in various outward-facing places like your website home page, client welcome packet, on social media, and in job descriptions. 

Your Values

Your business values are the beliefs and behaviors of your business. Defining them is vital to an ethical business. 

When you clearly state what integrity looks like in your business, you will not only hold yourself accountable to your values, but your team will also know how to behave and make decisions in your business. And — taking it back one step further — your values should inform the people you hire in the first place. It’s much easier to manage a team that is already aligned with how you like to do business than it is to try and get someone to uphold your values who doesn’t enthusiastically agree with them. 

To gather a list of your values, you’ll want to explore what you stand for, what you’re opposed to, how you treat your clients and team members, and how you expect your team to treat people as well. 

For each value, you should define the following: 

WHAT THE VALUE MEANS TO YOU

HOW IT INFLUENCES BEHAVIOR IN YOUR BUSINESS

Your values can be shared internally and externally on your website, in interview bios, inside of team onboarding and trainings, and in your quarterly and annual team meetings.

Your Vision

Third and last, we have your vision. While your mission is set in the present, your vision should look toward the future. Where is your business going? What is it aiming to achieve? Your vision should answer these questions. 

It’s time to think about what it would look like for your business to absolutely BLOW UP! To brainstorm your vision, you’ll want to think about big ways you want to stretch your business. Daydream about it! What do you hope for? What do you want to be recognized for?

You can even divide your vision into three categories: 

1) IMPACT VISION: What kind of change you’d like to make in the world

2) INTERNAL VISION: What you would like your team and systems to look like

3) PERSONAL VISION: What you would like your personal life to look like

Your vision statement is mostly an internal compass for your team. You might find a one-liner or piece of the vision that makes sense to share on social media if part of your company’s brand is rallying others to contribute to a bigger vision of what’s possible. But, for the most part, it belongs in your onboarding, training, in your meetings, and on your office wall as a constant reminder!

Revisit, Revise, and Remember

Once you’ve defined your Mission, Values, and Vision it’s important to consistently revisit these statements, revise them to keep up with your business growth and remember them on at least a weekly basis. 

As I’ve anchored my own business in its Mission, Values, and Vision I’ve found that things simply make more sense. I know where I’m going and where I’m not. I know what matters to my business and what can be left on a ‘back burner.’ Moving forward one aligned step at a time just takes a little less effort now, and I love that!

Best of luck creating an empowering shift for yourself as you work on your own Mission, Values, and Vision. 

→ If you missed it earlier in the blog, make sure you grab your FREE Mission, Vision, Values guide here!