How to develop a powerful vision for a successful, purpose-driven business
What’s the difference between a successful business that grows year-on-year and attracts customers like magic, and one that struggles to ever really get going?
The answer is a powerful vision. With true purpose in your business you can feel a confidence in everything you do, a confidence that will attract your dream clients like magic – except it’s NOT magic, as you’ll see… it’s nothing more than the logical outcome of getting your STRATEGY right.
You see, a lot of people have the idea that running a small business automatically has to be hard, and you have to do things you don’t like, and take any business you can, at least in the early years, because that’s just the way it is if you want to survive, right?
But taking ANY business at all ends up being seriously counterproductive. In fact, being selective and ONLY doing the work you love is what will give you the edge you need. That’s right: focusing ONLY on the work you love is the key not just to a happy, but also a financially successful business.
Let me explain why.
One of the reasons why Talented Ladies Club has thrived and grown over the past seven years is that we are driven by a clear ‘why’, and we’ve used this to make authentic decisions.
On the rare occasion we’ve veered from our gut ‘why’ instinct and followed the money without a sense of purpose, it has never worked out. Instead, it just reminded us why it’s important to stick to what we believe in, and trust we’re making the right choices.
And so far it’s worked out. Because while other businesses have failed, we’ve grown from strength to strength, and built a successful, abundant, passion-based business.
It’s hard to stay in love with your business year after year
The truth about entrepreneurship is that it can be hard to remain in love with your business, year after year, especially through the inevitable ups and downs that come with being a business owner. So it’s really important that you have a strong sense of purpose and a clear vision for what you’re doing – and believe it. AND that you are able to use your natural talents in your business.
Because the real secret is that running a business is not just about making money, there has to be purpose behind it. And do you know the funniest thing? If you get the heart of your business right, you’ll actually find it much easier to make money, too.
But a true purpose-driven business isn’t something that just happens organically. It’s something you need to work on with as much diligence as you devote to your pricing or product or service development and delivery. You need to ensure you’re shaping a business with the scope and potential to achieve the success you want and need – AND that it’s a natural fit for your own talents and ambitions.
How to find a powerful vision for your business
So how can you find that vision? To start with, you need to focus around the success that you’re working towards, and answer questions like:
- What you REALLY want from your business
- What that success actually looks like
- What difference this will make to your life
- How you’ll feel when you achieve that success
To take this even further, I’d encourage you to create a powerful, multi-sensory vision of your perfect day once you’ve achieved the success you want, and make this day as real as possible to you. Some people go as far as finding images that represent their vision and pinning them around their desk.
The important thing here isn’t simply to create a pretty goal board, but to have a very clear, detailed vision of the success and life you’re working towards. This vision should include details like:
- What your ideal business looks like
- How big it is
- Who’s working in it
- Who your customers or clients are
- What you want to be known for
- And what people say about your business
One important tip when answering these questions is to actually write them down, and do so in the PRESENT tense, as if you’ve already achieved this.
This exercise will help to keep you motivated, and it will also enable you to create concrete SMART goals around your vision, and chunk them down into weekly mini-goals and tasks that will get you there.
How to identify and eliminate hidden doubts you can achieve your vision
Once you’ve scoped out your vision for your business success, and translated it into a SMART goal, try to identify any limiting beliefs that may be lurking. Do you really believe that you’ll be able to achieve this? Or even that you deserve to?
Make a list of any doubts or worries to being them out from the shadows and into the light. You might write something like:
- I can’t have that because I’m not good at selling
- I can’t have that because I don’t deserve it
Once your list is finished, write a NEW list with each negative point, but this time find a reason why it’s wrong. So instead your list may read something like:
- I CAN have that because I’m brilliant at what I do and I’ll learn the confidence and techniques that will enable me to share my passion with customers
- I CAN have that because I’m working hard and DO deserve it
Not only will this help to reframe your limiting beliefs in your mind, but it will give you actions to take to actually overcome them. And remember, what you focus on you get, so it’s vital you switch your subconscious script from one of doubts and disbelief to one of empowerment and self-belief.
Clients and customers can SMELL a lack of confidence!
This work is essential in helping you grow a profitable business you love, because too often (especially when we allow limiting beliefs to thrive) we play small. We don’t have a really clear, AUTHENTIC vision of the business we want to grow.
So we start the business we think we can make work, or think we ‘deserve’. And these businesses don’t really play to our heartfelt, true passions, and nor do they really challenge us and sustain our interest so WE can grow with them.
But the problem with playing small is that you’re not scoping out a business that has the potential to make you the profit you want. Too often, when you’re playing small you go for apparently ‘safe’ options like trying to appeal to everyone, rather than having the confidence to niche to a specific market, the market you REALLY want.
And the problem with that? Potential clients can almost SMELL it when you don’t have true confidence, and it either puts them off you altogether, or they start to question your value.
With the right vision you can attract customers like ‘magic’
By contrast, when you’ve carefully thought about and KNOW the type of clients you want to attract, and why, it gives you confidence going into every interaction, and – as if by magic – your dream clients are attracted to you. But let me be very clear: it’s NOT magic!
What’s really going on is that because you’ve made a conscious decision to go for a certain type of client, a client you love to serve, you very quickly GET GOOD at speaking to, and serving, those specific types of clients. So your confidence isn’t imaginary, or temporary… it’s REAL!
And do you know what’s just as important? It’s that when you COMMIT to going after only the right clients, you’re creating a business you will genuinely love – and that sense of Purpose is what will keep you going not just in the good times, but through the tough days as well.
That’s what is going to give you a scalable business that will excite and interest you in five years’ time, when you’re reaping the rewards of five years of compound work, success and profit.
Join the TLC Business Club and get help with your vision (and everything else!)
Getting your vision right is an important part of launching a successful business. But it’s just one part. If you’d like help building the foundations of a rewarding and profitable business, join us inside the TLC Business Club.
The TLC Business Club starts on 20 September and gives you 12 month of business guidance and mentorship. Over the next year you’ll work through 12 carefully planned modules that cover all the essential building blocks of a successful, profitable business.
You’ll also get 12 months of mentorship with weekly group video calls with Hannah Martin in which she’ll answer your questions, and give you feedback, advice and emotional support as you navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
It’s a fantastic, one-of-a-kind online programme that is designed specifically for female business owners and freelancers – and delivers proven results. (Just take a look at some of the testimonials for similar programmes we’ve run here.)
So if you’d love help honing the perfect business vision and bringing it to life, with a year of guidance and mentorship, join the TLC Business Club now.
