Who are you?
Why are you here?
How can you help?
Who do you serve?
What’s your story?
What do you value?
What are you trying to accomplish?
What is the legacy you seek to build?
So who are you?
Well, that depends.
Not you personally, the business, unless you ARE the business.
And if you are, then yes you!
Newsflash #1: If no one in your organization knows the answers to these questions, you’re in trouble.
Newsflash #2: The more people in your organization know the answers to these questions, the more successful your business will be.
Sound personal?
Well, that’s because it is.
Business is personal.
Maybe it wasn’t always but honestly I think it is.
In this era where we delete people from our existence and choices are endless, your potential clients need a reason to choose you.
Your clients need a reason to not just choose you because you’re there, but because you more than every other option in their supercomputer hands, you resonate with who they are or aspire to be.
But…
“The product speaks for itself.” That’s one of the top arguments I hear against taking a moment to define what your company is. “My work speaks for itself.”
The truth is unless you’re making babies or robots, products and services don’t speak, and those that do require programming!
Work doesn’t speak. Work doesn’t tell a story. Work isn’t a reason.
If your competition with an equally viable product or service catches on and learns to tell their brand story before you?
The rest is history.
Don’t be the last to figure out that business is personal and your business has a story that needs to be told.
One look at social media influencers, those that sell via written and video posts, should be enough to wake you up to the reality that today’s businesses that succeed know how to tell their story.
When we look at the structure of every successful business story we see the same foundation at heart. Regardless of whether it’s formally written or embedded in the story, these businesses are grounded by a clear vision, a clear mission, a clear audience, credible leaders, values, and an ideal trajectory. Looking at many older websites we see evidence of these in the formal structures we refer to as vision and mission statements, corporate values, etc.
While many single-product companies or startups can get away with not having these fundamentals in place for a bit, especially at an early stage where a solopreneur frantically runs the show. In a sea of online funnels and startups, even the single employee business needs to differentiate itself and offer clients or investors a solid reason to invest here.
It’s also important to know that many businesses face problems just beyond the startup stage problems as the company moves towards growth and scale.
Tuns out that having powerful vision, mission, and values statements are just as critical for operations and internal communications as they are for the external world.
From simple decisions such as contracting and hiring to marketing, partnering, or expanding product lines, these Business Foundations documents become invaluable reference points that serve to guide your business trajectory.
Businesses like people form identities of their own. While it’s natural and expected that a business will change over time, businesses that fail to do the foundational work of establishing a vision, mission, and values statements run a greater risk of fracturing their identity or falling victim to the whims of management that is subject to frequent ungrounded change. In contrast, businesses that take the time to establish this foundation by answering major strategic and management questions, are infinitely better equipped with an assessment tool they can align decisions to.
Does your business have a strong vision and mission statement?
Are your corporate values strong enough to equally inspire your clients and team?
Has your business grown out of alignment with your corporate identity?
Contact us today to learn more about resetting or establishing your business foundations today.
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