There are 4 critical area that make up the foundation of your business. Without these you are like the house built on the sand which gets washed away by the floods. These areas are:
- Your VISION for your business. What is a Vision Statement? It is a document, usually very short, that describes the current and future goals of the business. It allows business owners and their managers to align decision making with the objectives of the organization. Examples of company’s vision statements are:
- McDonalds: To be the best quick service restaurant experience…
- Nike: Bring Inspiration and Innovation to every athlete in the world…
- IKEA: Our Vision is to create a better everyday life for many people.
What characterises these Vision Statements? They are short, to the point and inspirational.
- Your MISSION STATEMENT. It is often asked how this differs from your Vision, so lets look at this first. The Vision Statement as described above deals with the desired future of the business, so defining a state which is still to be achieved. The Mission statement on the other hand, describes the company’s business, its objectives and how they will operate to achieve these objectives. Mission statements are often longer than a vision statement and contain more detail. Examples of Mission Statements are:
- Amazon: To be earths most customer centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavours to offer its customers the lowest possible prices.
- Your Value Statement: A Value statement is a list of values that the business ascribes to. Yes, there are the usual ones like Honesty, Integrity, Customer centricity but these also need to show your clients/customers what you stand for. Some companies just list the desired attributes, others turn each one into a statement, others create a story around them. How you do it is up to you as the business owner. The most important aspect of this statement is that it should inspire people to want to do business with you. And conversely it must illustrate how you will do business with them.
- The fourth element of your Foundation is your structure. All businesses have a standard structure which can be expanded but never contracted. This structure is as follows:
As can be seen each of these areas is critical to a business. None can be left out of your daily routine. This is the mistake often made by business owners, they focus on the area that they are good at and neglect the area where they are not as competent or dislike. Many of you, like me, neglect the admin and finance areas. This will come back to bite you!
Remember, you are not alone, if you need assistance in any of these areas, contact me for a free coaching session where I can point you in the right direction.