Why getting clarity about your vision and values is so important for the success of your business
In this episode, I introduce you to Clarity, the first step in my Future-Proof Your Business Framework.
We're going to look at why it's important to get really clear on your vision, mission and values and I'll take you through the steps you need to take to be able to define them for your own brand. And then I'll help you to recognise what it is you stand for as a business owner, what your brand and business stand for, and why it matters to you and your customers.
Here are the highlights from this episode:
(04:44) Recognising the rollercoaster ride
(06:45) The three C's to Future Proof Your Business
(11:31) Mission Statement
(19:25) Your Purpose
(22:52) What you stand for, what your brand stands for?
(25:11) Your values
(30:44) Summary & Resources
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I'm Lucy Rennie, and welcome to my Future Proof your Business Podcast.
The podcast that provides you with everything you need to know to build solid foundations and ultimately Future Proof your business.
I'm on a mission to share my love for small business with you and help you to enjoy the extraordinary ripple effect that comes through harnessing the power of people and relationships.
And I want to make sure that you can reap the benefits of being a business and a brand that people know, like and trust.
I'm a huge champion for small business and a massive believer in the fact that people do business with people.
This podcast is here to inspire you, encourage you and support you on this roller coaster ride that is building, growing and Future Proofing your business.
Hi, and welcome to episode four of the Future-Proof Your Business podcast. I hope you're okay. And you are having a good week. I can't believe we're past the middle of September now. We're way on track to getting ready for Christmas. and yeah, I mentioned the C word already. We're only like, 3 episodes in, but for those who know me they'll know, I absolutely love Christmas. There's just something about that cosy feeling, log burning fires, Father Christmas, the kids and just happiness of being together.
So yeah, I am definitely starting to think about Christmas, in fact, so much so that I've actually booked our visit to see Father Christmas already. We're going to go to Lyme park, which is a National Trust house which is just up the road from us. In fact, it's actually where, for those of you who are old as me will remember, it's the house where Mr Darcy jumped into the pool. So if you know, you know!
Christmas seems to be coming out of everywhere, I'm seeing adverts on the telly and I can see all the PR requests for Christmas gifts and getting your products and services into the guides already.
And, if anything, if you haven't started to do that, you're probably too late already. So, yeah, time is flying by, but I always think that means that we're having lots of fun.
So yeah, let me know, are you the same? Do you get excited by Christmas or are you one of those people who you don't want to think about it until December? Do you think it's way too early to start thinking about stocking fillers and mince pies? Let me know.
Today in this episode I wanted to talk to you a little bit more about what we touched upon last week, in terms of building that Goodwill and that trust and being in it for the long game.
And I really want to talk to you this week about getting real clarity. Yeah. I'm going to talk you through the importance of getting really clear in your vision, defining and getting really clear on your mission and what that means and your roadmap and thinking about your purpose, your raison d’être. And we're going to look at what you stand for as a business owner and what your business and your brand stands for and why that's important.
And then finally we'll be looking at your values and ultimately why that's important for you to make sure you're really clear on them, why it's important for your customers and for your audience to understand what they are. And I'll take you through a little exercise that will help you to get really clear on that.
So we've got quite a lot to do today. But for me, it's one of those subjects that gets me really excited. And when I'm working with my clients, whether that's just the business owner on their own, or when, whether we're working with the team, it's really, really, powerful to, to see the journey they go on in understanding and and recognizing and unpicking what their vision, purpose and values are, and what they stand for. When they can unpick that and really get clear on what that is. It's so incredibly powerful to see the impact that this then has on the rest of their business and the way they approach things and the way that they then start to communicate and interact with their customers and audience. Yeah, so it's one of my favourite topics.
So I'm going to start by, I suppose, really just encouraging you as a business owner, as a manager, and a leader to recognise the fact that it is a roller coaster ride, and I will mention this probably every episode.
I just think it's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day running of a business. It's so easy to get caught up in the spinning of all those different plates and juggling all those different balls and not having the time to, you know, lift your head up and work on your business, or lift your head up and just check in to make sure that you are going in the right direction and that you're not treading water, or that you've not veered off the path because you've had to deal with an unexpected issue or you've been firefighting, or yeah, something's happened.
And you've kind of lost focus on where you were going.
So I think for me, I'd reallylike to encourage you to make a date with yourself and ideally at least once a month, but even if it's just once a quarter, I think it's really, really important.
I do this with a lot of my clients, we have a bit of a check in point. So we build the strategy for the year and then every quarter we have a sense check and we come in and we look together at you know what had been planned and where we're up to. And if we are still on track. If not, what happened and why? Or if so, great. And how can we reinforce that? So that's my first piece of encouragement really is to make a date with yourself. And also, I find that most clients, they love it or they find it much more valuable when they take themselves away from their normal working space. So go and find a nice cafe somewhere or somewhere where it's a bit different.
So it feels almost like a bit of a treat, but you're also putting yourself in a different mindset as you look at your business and it'll help you to look at it with fresh eyes.
Secondly, what I wanted to say, and we touched upon this last week is those three CS, which help you to create and future-proof business, which is Clarity, Communication, and Connection. We can't do the latter two, communicate or connect until we've got really clear. and we've got clarity on who we are, why we do what we do and where we want to go. And that starts really with, as we talked about in episode two, it starts with you, the business owner. I really believe that has to come from you.
What is your vision?
What is it that you are setting out to achieve? Where is it that you want to be? What's the end goal? or what's the destination? And sometimes we don't know, or sometimes we're not taking the time to think about it, or sometimes maybe that's changed.
So again, this is another reason why it's really good to sense check and check in with yourself.
But, I'd like you to think about your vision. And I know some people say, oh, it's a bit fluffy and a bit wooeey, and really we should be talking numbers and having a kind of a tangible strategy that's about selling and promotion and packages and all those things.
But if I'm really honest with you, I actually believe that if we can get this right, if we can really drill down and get really clear on what your vision, mission, purpose, and values are, then it's almost more powerful than a strategy and goals, because if we can get this right, then everything that you do moving forward in your business will come from this place.
And so it's actually almost kind of a way of future-proofing your business, just in itself. And by building that roadmap, it helps you and allows you to make decisions that are based on those core foundations, on the groundwork, on the solid foundations of your business.
It's a bit like, you know, when you're buying a new house, you wouldn't start putting the curtains up or you wouldn't start choosing the carpet for the living room before you actually put the sheet piles in and build the foundations. And you've got walls and doors and you know what the room's going to look like and where the windows go. And it's similar in that respect.
It always makes me laugh, but you wouldn't jump in a car on a Saturday afternoon with all your family and just go we're off. I'll see you later. You wouldn't go off and say, we're going on holiday and not have a plan. So if you want to know where you're going, you need to have a destination in mind. And that's what for me, your vision is all about. And it's not just about saying, yeah, by the end of the year, once we've achieved this, it's about thinking about why you're doing what you're doing.
And as Simon Sinek says, “People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.
And this is about thinking about the bigger impact that you want to have on the world, on your clients, on the wider community.
I really want you to think about what your business and your brand is here to do, who are you here to help, and how do you want to make a difference in the world. And so there's no right or wrong answer with this either. So you could, you might shut your eyes for a second and really tap into that and think about what it is that you want to do.
So for me, for example, my vision is all about helping business owners like you to create a business that really works for you, feels good, and that delivers value to your audience and your customers. But also, I really genuinely believe that there's a place now for small businesses to have a massive impact on the world, on the economy, on future generations. I believe there's a place for small businesses now to do good.
And so my vision is I want to help as many small business owners as possible to really get clear on what it is that they do and how they can tap into that and how they can create a plan, a roadmap to help them to do that. And I suppose, really, if we can get clear on that, it's almost, this is the inspirational bit. This is the bit that keeps us going. That keeps us focused on, on the end in mind. So yeah, for me, I'd like to encourage you to think about what that is, and dream big, you know, make it, make it hairy and scary. Give yourself permission to say what you want to say. So if you want to impact lots of people, if you want to change the world, if you want to help different generations or different communities, then, then get it down there and let's paint that picture of what your business and brand is here to do.
And then once you've kind of understood why you're here and what you're doing and why, what you want your business to achieve, then we need to think about what your mission is and start to think about,
Creating a bit of a mission statement.
And so I want to explain to you what your mission is and how you can define that. Because sometimes people get a bit muddled between what a vision is and a mission is all those things. So I want to break it down really clearly. So the vision is kind of the bigger picture. It's the impact you want to have. It's the end destination. It's the end in mind, where you want to be. And then the mission is the roadmap that is going to outline how your business and brand shows up, what you do and how you add value to those people, to your audience.
And then it kind of defines the actions and the different things that you are going to do or your business and brand's going to do in order to move you forwards towards your vision.
So it's kind of the ‘HOW’ of how you're going to help people or how you are going to behave, how you are going to do things to help you to achieve your vision. It's a great way to communicate clearly to your audience, to your customers, of how you can help them and how you can add value.
Have a look, I encourage you to go and have a look at some of the bigger brands, have a look at some of your favourite brands and, and companies and people that you work with. Go and check them out on their websites and have a look at how they, they tell this story how they break it down and, and how they describe, you know, their vision, and define their mission, which is drilling down into how they're here to help you and, and what they're here to do.
So I suppose really if you want to have a go at making your mission statement, there's kind of five key steps that you can work through to help you to nail that mission statement and have something that really solidifies what your brand does and how it helps.
So the first step is obviously to start with you and your vision, to keep that in mind, and think about what the impact is that you want to make on the world, on your customers, on the local community, whatever that might be. So keep that in mind.
And then the second step is to think about your customers and think about their needs and expectations. You'll hear me say this a lot, but really put yourself in their shoes, and feel the feels so think about, you know, what's going on in their world.
What do they believe? What do they need? What are they struggling with? What are their challenges? And think about, you know, what are they expecting from you? What are they looking for from you and your brand and how can you help them? What's important to them? So step two is really about kind of getting under the skin of your customers. And we will talk a lot more about that in a few later episodes. But for now, I just want you to think about who are the people that you want to help, have an impact on and what's important to them and what are they looking for from you and your brand.
Then step three is remembering to make it realistic and believable. So don't be one of those businesses or brands that sells rainbows or unicorns, or that talks all woolly and where there isn't any substance to it.
So think plain English, think simple. Think, can you explain this? So I always think to myself when I'm trying to communicate effectively. I always think to myself, if I was going to explain this to Ellia, my daughter, who's eight, and don't get me wrong, she's really switched on, but at the moment she's in that zone of, but why mummy and what's this and why is that happening.. Da, da, da. So she's asking me all these different questions and really listening to everything about, you know, what I'm explaining to her. And so it's a great sense check for me. If I was going to explain this to Ellia, how would I explain it? And it's the same when you are thinking about your mission, avoid complicated words or extravagant words that either people don't understand or don't mean a lot, because it's just fancy language.
So really keep it simple and say what you're going to do. I used to have a coach who used to talk all the time about making something, Ronseal, you know, saying what it does on the team. Exactly that, in terms of your language, we want people to understand and we want people to get it. If we use language that maybe is a bit more complicated, people are going to either switch off or they're going to think, oh, that's not for me. Or, they're going to maybe feel a little bit silly because they don't understand it. So yeah. Think, keep your audience in mind and make sure it's realistic and also make sure it's believable. So don't be promising things that aren't realistic or that you can't deliver. I'd much rather that you talk about the value that you can add and the baby steps that you can make than promising unicorns that you just know is not going to happen.
Step four is about making sure that you've nailed this, that you know exactly what your mission is. It's at the forefront of your mind and that you don't have to think back and go, oh God what did I say it was And what were those words. And I know it was quite a wordy sentence or I know that I was talking about these different things. I want to encourage you to make it really simple, easy to remember and easy for other people to understand. Yeah. So that everybody can adopt it and can take it on board and can live and breathe it. So even if at the moment you haven't got a team and it's just you, think about how you can relate that to your audience, but also in the future, if you've got people that, you know, want to start to come to work for you, you want to make sure that they're really living and breathing this mission and vision.
So it needs to be really easy to understand something they're not going to forget and something that they can relate back to time after time. And again, finally step five, the final bit, which I think we've probably covered, is about making it really short, simple and concise. So don't go around the gardens and, and make a figure of eight when you can just go from, from A to B. So keep it really simple, really concise, say what it does on the tin and make it memorable, and that really is, is your mission.
And this is where you can then have that as your baseline for all your communication, where you can feed that into your battles. You can feed it into your descriptions on your website, on your tools. You can talk about it in your pictures or in your content.
And the good thing about it is once you've nailed these, your vision and your mission, it allows you to be consistent. It allows you to make sure that wherever you're showing up across whichever channel or platform you are being consistent in your messaging, and that you're saying the same thing, you're not kind of going, oh gosh, what did I say last time?
And, then people, what happens is people get confused or think he said, she said, one thing last week, but now he's saying a different thing. What does he actually mean? So again, if we're trying to develop that trust and that Goodwill, we want to be making sure that we're showing up in the right way and that we're consistent and that we're familiar.
We're creating that safety net with our customers. We're creating that familiarity and we're making people feel safe and showing them and demonstrating to them that we're in control and that we know what we're talking about. So it's really important to have this clear, and then to make sure that you're referring back to it whenever you're communicating and whenever you're talking or you are sharing what you do.
The next step in getting clarity for who you are and what you do, is thinking about your purpose. And I know we touched on this in episode two, where I was explaining how I, I believe it's really important that everything has to start with you.
And I think your purpose is the bit that brings everything together. It's the glue that helps the vision and the mission to come to life.
It's the raison d’etre of your brand. It's the bit that keeps you going and moves everything forward. And it's the bit really where you can bring in the passion and the emotion and all the things that make you tick to help you to really communicate and connect and resonate with your people. And again, this is really personal to you as the business owner, but I want you to get really clear on it so that it feeds into your brand and feeds into everything that you do. So as I talked about in episode two, it's about tapping into why you do what you do. You know, we see it when I'm working with my clients and I'm asking them, okay, so what, what do you do? And what's your vision and what's your vision. And talk to me about your brand and the work that they do.
And then it's all great. And it sounds brilliant and very professional, but something then clicks when I ask them why they do what they do and what it is that makes them excited and what it is when they're buzzing and they're feeling good. What is it that makes them stay on that roller coaster ride of building this business and showing up and doing all the things and you can see it. And it is interesting to encourage you guys to do the same and to watch other people, because when something clicks, their eyes light up and they smile or their faces become alive. And they talk about what it is and why they started the business or why they do what they do, or the results that they get or seeing the impact they can have on, on the world or those people, or that particular person, or that charity or whatever it might be.
Your purpose is the thing that keeps you going when, when things don't go well, or when things are feeling a bit challenging, the purpose is the bit that allows you to resonate. It's the emotion, it's the bit that people will buy into. So yeah, people are going to buy into what you believe and why you're doing something. So spending some time really sort of feeling that and identifying what that is, will really help you as you're explaining to people and you start to communicate, why you do what you do and what your brand stands for and all those good things. I really encourage you to do that and to think about it.
And, you'll hear me talk about this all the time, but a great way of doing that. And recognizing that is to think about when you have those tummy flip moments, you know, those moments where you're just like, oh my Gosh, I can't believe that I'm doing this.
And this is my work. And you can't stop smiling because you are just really thrilled with what's happened. You've got to really try and identify that. And, and we can bring that in as we tell that story, and it'll just be the glue, it'll just be the extra thing that pulls it all together and really allows people to get under your skin and under the skin of your brand, and really see, you know, why you're here and what you're doing. and I suppose this ties into the question about what you stand for, and what your brand stands for.
The reason why I want to share this is, and we've talked about this in earlier episodes is there's been a real shift over the last couple of years in terms of how people regard brands and how people look to decide whether they're going to engage with a brand or a business, whether that's because of generations Z, who are much more interested in, you know, what a business stands for and the values and the business doing good in the world.
But also I think it's linked to the global pandemic and lockdown and all those things where people have kind of changed their behaviour and they want to make more informed decisions about who they buy from and why they buy from a particular brand. And they want to know that a brand is doing good. So for you as a business owner and for you, as you build your brand and you're looking to create something that's sustainable, it's a really good exercise to think about what you stand for. And what's important to you, whether that's you personally, as a business owner and also for your business and brand. That might be linked to certain people, it might be linked to the planet and might be about certain causes. It might be linked to something that you feel particularly strong about.
What you want to shout out about, or you want to encourage people to do.
I really encourage you to think about what that is, and what you want to be known for. So it might be that you want to support a particular charity, or it might be that you want to stand up for small business, or maybe it's Made in Britain, or maybe it's about supporting younger generations or opportunities or whatever that might be. Again, there's no right or wrong with this, but it's about getting really clear on that. So that as we start to tell your story and communicate in the right way, we can attract the right kind of people who get that, who resonate with that, and who also maybe stand for that and, and feel, then it's important to them.
So the more we can really hone in on who we are and what we think and what we believe, the more we're going to be able to attract the right kind of people who also believe in those kind of things, or appreciate the fact, and want to work with a business and a brand that does.
And then finally, the last exercise and the last part of this that I think is really important. And I'd really encourage you to take some time to think about, and I suppose this is going to be homework for this week is, again, linked to everything that I've just said about how the world is expecting businesses to do more than just, show up and sell stuff. People are expecting businesses to be value-led, to be purpose driven, to come from a place of, of real value and making an impact.
And so getting really clear on your values, and what they mean to you as a business owner, or to you as a brand and your team and the ripple effect, then on your partners, on your customers, on your suppliers and all those things, the world in general, is really important.
And again, this can sometimes be seen as being a bit wooeey or a bit fluffy, but I actually believe the contrary. I think actually it's really fundamental that we can nail this, that we can get really clear on our key values. And they'll be different, again, there's no right or wrong with this, and they'll be different for different people. so this is about building your Lego bricks and really understanding who you are and what you stand for to then be able to communicate that and attract the right people.
So if you haven't already done this, if you haven't already got clear, and identified what those key values are for you, then there's a little exercise that I recommend you do. It only takes literally 60 seconds, but it's a great way for you to tap into your inner self, to your intuition, and really kind of not overthink things and see what comes up for you.
So I want you to get your phone or a timer if you've got one and literally set it for 60 seconds. And in that 60 seconds, I want you to write down the values that come up for you that you think are the most important to you. So it might be integrity. It might be honesty. It might be, transparency. It might be, I don't know, there are all sorts of different values, obviously that we can do.
I'll pop a link in the show notes to an online tool that you can use, where you can answer some questions as well and, maybe identify or be aware of the different values that are out there. Just to give yourself a little bit of a nudge. so you're not doing this cold, but then going back to the exercise, I want you to think to set your timer for 60 seconds and literally right down in that 60 seconds, the values that come up for you. And it seems like 60 seconds isn't a lot of time, but actually I reckon you could do this and you'll find that there'll be four or five values that come to mind straight away, that you can pop down on your paper. and sometimes it's quite surprising to see what comes up for you and if you've got a team.
So if you, already have a team in your business, it's really interesting to do this as a team exercise and allow everybody to note down their own values and see what comes up and then explore and on pick what those values mean, and how they all come together to create your brand, but, we'll actually have an episode on building your team and and how each member of the team can bring their strengths to your brand. We'll talk about that in a few weeks time. But for now, once you've got your list of values, you might have four or five, what I want you to think about, and the next step is to write down next to each one of those keywords, just describe what that value is. So if it's honesty, if you've put honesty down as a value, then you might put, in the description that it means, you know, telling the truth.
You are not going to put any smoke screens up. You're going to be recognized as somebody who will, maybe have challenging conversations or say it how it is rather than kind of smiling and saying everything's okay. So describe what that value is. And then the third part I want you to think about, and again, I drive my clients crazy with this, but I want you to ask yourself well, so what? And what I mean by that is I want you to think about, so what does that mean for your business, for your brand and for your customers? So if you've put honesty down and you've described it, I want you to think about, well, why is that important? Why would that mean anything to your customers? What does that change or what does that mean for them?
And so in the case of honesty, it might be that, you know, in, from a customer's perspective, it means that they can trust you to actually tell them the truth. It means that they can trust you to tell them the good and the bad. It means they can trust you to show up with integrity. Maybe that you are going to do what you say you're going to do, or that you are not going to promise them something that you can't deliver, or maybe it's about the value and the pricing and the investment. And maybe that actually, if you're talking about honesty being one of your core values, then, it means that your customers can trust you in the fact that you're not going to rip them off and that you're not going to overprice something or take money from them and then not deliver.
So I want you to do that exercise for all of the values, each of the values that came up for you in the 60 seconds, and really get under the skin of your customers and think about what that means to them.
So at the end of this, if you've gone through the different steps that I've taken you through today, identifying your vision, working out what the mission is in the roadmap, looking at the glue. So the raison d’etre, which is your purpose, then thinking about what, what is it that you stand for, and what's important to you, and finally identifying what your core values are.
Then you've started to pull together a real picture of who you are and what your brand stands for. So you're starting to really get clarity on what you do, why you do what you do and how you can help people.
And that's the first real step in, in future-proofing your business, in helping you to communicate and tell the right stories and connect in and build relationships with the right kind of people, those people who love what you do, who are gonna become super fans who'll ultimately shout about you from the rooftops and create that ripple effect, which is sharing the love for what you do.
So it's been quite a full on episode this week, but I think it's really important for you to do this work and to really think about this. And I promise you that now you've got this and you've built those foundations, then moving forward, any decision that you make as a business owner or your teammates, or whether to work with such and such a person, or whether to invest in this opportunity, or whether to, go on this advertising space, you'll be able to make that decision and decide, which direction to go by coming back and referring to all these different elements of who you are and what your brand is.
Because it will be really simple. It's either in line with what you've set out and what you've defined or it's not.
So that's it for today's episode. I really hope you've enjoyed it. I hope that you found it useful, and I would really love to hear how you get on with mapping all these different elements out.
So please do, get in touch. You can join me on Instagram at @IamLucyRennie or on LinkedIn at Lucy Rennie or simply send me an email at Lucy@lrcomms.co.uk (there's only me hiding behind that email address. and I'd love to hear and see what you've done).
If you want to share with me, I’d be happy to feedback and happy to talk through with you how you're getting on with it and understand a bit more about you and your brand and what your vision is.
So thank you for listening and, I will see you next week, for episode five, where we're gonna be, looking a lot more closely about who your ideal customers are and who you really wanna help, and support in your business and brand. So have a great week take care.
Thanks for listening to the Future Proof Your Business podcast. I've been your host, Lucy Rennie, I hope you've enjoyed this episode. If you have, then I'd love you to head over to Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast and hit the subscribe button. And I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave a review and a rating and help me to reach even more small business owners like you who want to build a business they love.
And don't forget, you can head over to iamlucyrennie.com and sign up to my email list as well as find more tips and tools to help you Future-proof your Business on my website and in the show notes.
Finally, I'd love to invite you to come and join me and lots of other small business owners like you. In my free Facebook group, Communicate with Purpose.
You can find all the links on my website and in the Show Notes.
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Resource Links:
Click here to find a list of values for you.
I would love to invite you to come and join me and lots of other small business owners like you in my FREE Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CommunicatewithPurpose With Purpose.