A Vision Checklist

Most business owners know about goals and objectives. But they don’t understand the concept of a “vision.”

Here’s the difference: A personal vision is what the owner of a business sees in the crystal ball in 5, 10, or 15 years… such as being retired, living on a yacht, or working only two days a week. A goal is something that you do or accomplish in order to get to that vision.

To be a viable vision, that vision must be realistic… and it must come from the passion that the owner has both personally and about the business.

Now the problem is that the consequences of a business owner NOT having both a personal vision and a business vision can be disastrous... and could sentence the business owner to a life that becomes far more demanding on the one hand… and much less rewarding on the other!

So you have to know where you are… and where you want to be. This, of course, is your vision both personally and professionally (from a business standpoint). And the absence of knowing is the GAP that you hear me talk about all the time.

Now, the key is that having a personal vision is essential for the success of a business vision. The reason is that if the two visions don’t match, one of two things can occur:

First, either the business vision will fail, because it doesn’t match your personal vision. Or, second, if the business vision is successful, as a business owner, you will be miserable if it doesn’t match your personal vision. As a result, the business vision has to complement the personal vision.

The key is that what you want to do is to develop “big picture” goals to get you from where you are today to the vision that you have for yourself and your business 5 to 10 years out.

Once you see the vision… and get your hands on that vision… you can develop those goals by developing specific strategies to achieve each of those goals that supports your vision.

You’ll also want to develop specific action plans… and steps… for each strategy, so that you know who has the responsibility to do what… and when they are supposed to be completed. So, critical to this is to include timelines and responsibilities.

Then, because this is not a one-time activity that you implement and then forget about, you need to review this every year.