Discovering the Purpose, Vision, Mission and Values behind Your Business: A Guide for Entrepreneurs
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Are you willing to take a deep dive today?
As an entrepreneur, it's critical to understand the purpose, vision, mission, and values that drive your business. By clearly defining these four foundational elements, you can create a powerful foundation for your business that will help you stay focused, motivated, and on track towards success.
Our culture has a tendency to put work first. Raise your hand if you have first-hand experience in this one. Sadly, me too, but luckily I’ve moved on from that and am never looking back. Since we place such a high importance on being career-driven, it’s all too easy for people to think that their life purpose and their career are one and the same. This is why it’s so common to hear stories about how when people, especially men, retire, they feel like they don’t have a purpose any longer. Many either decide to go back to work, or end up giving up on life and get sick - or worse. When people feel like they have no purpose, like they’re wandering aimlessly, this is when they often turn to worldly pleasures to try and fill that void.
As Christians, we know that worldly pleasures are fleeting. We can travel the world searching for happiness, become rich and famous, have millions of followers on social media, but the absolute only way to find purpose is though a relationship with the Lord. God Himself has a purpose for each of us, and for those of us who don’t know what it is yet, it’s probably because we’ve never asked! God would love nothing more than for us to live out His purpose for us. After all, this is reason He created us - the reason he gave us our unique and amazing gifts.
Some people are able to turn their purpose into a thriving career, and that’s exactly why you’re here. You’re here now because you’re ready to answer your calling. You’re ready to tune into God and let him take the reins. You’re sick of working just to pay the bills. When you think about retirement, you think about a beautiful time spent with loved ones and doing things that bring joy and wait for it… still using your gifts. When your business purpose and life purpose align, retirement is just a continuation of the beautiful, purposeful life that God designed just for you.
Now let’s get to the fun part, putting your purpose, vision, mission and core values down on paper. As you read through some of the examples that I give you in this section, you’ll notice that there’s some overlap - and that’s ok. As long as you’re clear on where you stand, you’re golden. Together, these four concepts will create the heart and soul of your company, so it’s imperative to establish them first and foremost. Let’s dive in.
Purpose: Your why
Why does your business exist? You’re creating your business for a specific reason, beyond making money. What is that reason? There are no methods involved in your purpose.
Examples:
Assurant Insurance: We protect what matters most.
BlackRock Investing: To help more and more people experience financial well-being.
Brené Brown: To study the intersection of human behavior, emotion, and thinking, and to communicate our findings in clear and compelling ways so that all of us can better understand and care for ourselves, each other, and the world we live in.
Daystar Counseling Ministries: Seeks to offer the hope of Christ to children, adolescents and families in need.
Dick’s Sporting Goods: We create confidence and excitement by personally equipping all athletes to achieve their dreams.
Environmental Working Group: The air we breathe, the food we eat, the products we put on our skin – these essentials are in danger. We're doing everything we can to protect your health and our shared environment.
Studio Four10: To help women turn their gift from God into a healthy, thriving, purpose-driven business.
Vision: Your what
What do you hope to achieve? What goals would you like to reach? What change will happen for your customer? Your vision can be as big picture as you want it to be. Don’t be afraid to dream!
Examples:
Assurant Insurance: We protect and secure the places people live and the things they buy.
BlackRock Investing: We help millions of people invest to build savings that serve them throughout their lives.
Brené Brown: Research, writing, books, podcasts, teaching, speaking, facilitation communities, online resources, and media (traditional, social, and new).
Daystar Counseling Ministries: We seek to soften hardened hearts. We seek to shape. Shaping comes through a direct process of helping clients see the reality of not only how we have been hurt, but also how we hurt others. We seek to strengthen. As clients begin to have a glimpse of who God has created them to be, individuals are able to see past their own needs and into the needs of others.
Dick’s Sporting Goods: We aspire to be the #1 choice for athletes and sports enthusiasts to purchase sporting goods.
Environmental Working Group: To empower you with breakthrough research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment.
Studio Four10: I teach passionate women across the US how to create thriving Christ-centered businesses that focus on using their unique gifts to serve others. I help connect and empower faithful business women to lift one another up in business and in life, and encourage women to set healthy boundaries within their business.
Mission: Your how
How will you accomplish or achieve your vision? What’s the method to the madness?
Examples:
Assurant Insurance: At Assurant, we figure out what’s stopping the businesses and consumers we serve and find ways to keep them moving forward. We have a reputation for introducing new ideas to the marketplace that turn insight into competitive advantage. With decades of experience to draw upon, we’re well prepared to anticipate our client’s challenges and spot opportunities to help them succeed. But it’s our uncompromising values that keep us grounded and remind us of what matters most.
BlackRock Investing: We simplify investing by making it easier and more convenient for anyone to access market opportunities anywhere in the world. Through our iShares exchange traded funds (EFTs), we’re helping revolutionize what it means to be an investor.
Brené Brown: We use research, storytelling, words, and images to teach and to connect the seemingly unconnectable.
Daystar Counseling Ministries: Counseling services are offered on a sliding scale system, based on a family's or individual's ability to pay. Through individual and group counseling, summer camp programs, leadership training and parenting seminars, Daystar is dedicated to serving the greater Nashville area, as well as the community at large, with encouragement and support.
Dick’s Sporting Goods: We create an inclusive environment where passionate, skilled, and diverse teammates thrive. We create and build leading brands that serve and inspire athletes. We deliver shareholder value through growth and relentless improvement. We make a lasting impact on communities through sport.
Environmental Working Group: EWG’s team of scientists, policy experts, lawyers and communications and data experts work tirelessly to reform our nation’s broken chemical safety and agricultural laws. We push industries to adopt our standards and stand against chemicals of concern. We educate consumers with actionable information and inspire demand for safer products.
Studio Four10: I provide faith-based branding and website design services and online courses that make starting a home-based business accessible to all women in the United States.
Values: Who you are.
Your deep-seated beliefs and morals that will guide every business decision that you make. Your core ethos and how you behave.
Examples:
Assurant Insurance: Our core values - common sense, common decency, uncommon thinking, uncommon results - guide our every action at Assurant. These values inspire our commitment to be a responsible corporate citizen.
BlackRock Investing: We believe in the power of transparency to hold ourselves and others accountable for continuous progress. Our clients’ interests come first. An inclusive, equitable environment makes us thrive. We are relentless about finding better ways to serve our clients and improve our firm. We take emotional ownership and have a deep sense of responsibility to our clients and to each other. We are committed to a better future through sustainable and responsible business practices.
Brené Brown: We are called to be brave, serve the work, take good care, cultivate belonging, and create beauty and excellence in all things.
Daystar Counseling Ministries: The truth of God's Word is the foundation upon which Daystar rests.
Dick’s Sporting Goods: Our company is built on the belief that sports make people better and that giving back and doing what’s right is ultimately what makes us successful.
Environmental Working Group: We work tirelessly to reform our nation’s broken chemical safety and agricultural laws. We push industries to adopt our standards and stand against chemicals of concern. We educate consumers with actionable information. We inspire demand for safer products.
Studio Four10: I believe in the power of prayer, in trusting God, in treating people with love, kindness and respect, and in making every decision in the interest of service to the Lord and to others.
Make these your own, find what feels good and right to you and your business, and don’t hesitate to stop and pray about it if you get stuck.
I’m rooting for you!
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