Business Article - Create a Mission Statement
Nearly every business has a mission statement and if they do not, they should. A mission statement represents the values of the company and, ultimately, the employees who work there. What are your hopes, dreams, and aspirations? Where do you want to be five years from now? Would you like to be living comfortably, working in a position that you love, around people that you admire? This could be interpreted in one of two ways: a dream or a goal. Working towards your dreams or goals in life and realizing your values can help you to easily build a mission statement that reflects who you are as a person through your company. With a mission statement, you are telling others exactly what type of business you are running and what type of people are employed at that business. It is one of the little things that consumers can look at and make an educated decision about the company without having to research the history and background, although that is still a good idea.
Get a pen and paper because you are going to create your mission statement right now. Lean back and close your eyes. Think about yourself for a moment. Concentrate on who you really are as a person. Bring those qualities out and analyze them for a few minutes before deciding if each is a quality that you would like to shine through in a business or even in yourself. If it is not, discard it quickly and move on to the next. Write down the qualities that jump out at you, these are the ones that you think of first, so that you do not forget them later on in this article.
It is easy to think of the qualities that you admire most in yourself but what about the qualities that you admire most in another person? For most people, the people that we love and look up to always come to mind first. Think about the two most important people in your life right now. Who are they? Are these people friends, family, possibly a mentor? What qualities do they have that draw you to them? What makes them who they are? People are unique when it comes to quality; no two are exactly the same. This is true for business also. And, because no two businesses are exactly the same, we need to make it clear what we stand for when we are up against the competition. A mission statement can do that for your business.
“We care for each individual like they were part of our family.” This could be a great mission statement for a hospital, nursing home, or other business. Think of what you would want to hear when thinking of a business that you are considering doing business with. What qualities would you want them to possess? What statements could you read or hear that would make you feel at ease when conducting your business with that company? These questions and others should be easy to answer if you really just sit down and think about the importance that they represent.
Mission statements are not only something that represents the people in accompany to the customer; they are guiding words that you can look to every day to help keep you on track in your life. Even singular individuals produce mission statements so that they can use them to guide them in the every day world. It is a written code of values or a map to the goals in one’s life. How you get to the goal is up to you but it would be wise to form your mission statement while thinking about the achievement of your goals. Your mission statement should help get you closer to your goals or even overcome the obstacles in your path to achieve them. These statements can even be rewritten and changed as you and your business change. Because a mission statement represents you as a whole, this includes your business for it is an extension of you. The goals that you want to achieve both in your business and as a person may be lofty but if you set your sights on them daily they may be closer to accomplishment than you think.
Goals are what we work for or towards. You have just started a business and it is going quite well. Although you are happy with the volume that your business is currently trading, you would like it to double within the next two years. That is a goal. To achieve that goal, think of what you will have to do to get there and how you will complete these tasks. One might say, “I will always put my customers first and foremost.” That is one way to achieve a popular customer base which will make your business stronger and bigger than ever. By keeping your customers happy, you can safely assume repeat business from those happy customers as well as business from the people that they talk about your business with.
Maybe you thought you would be more successful today than you actually are. Is it possible that you haven’t really set any goals? Are you just moving along day to day hoping that things get better? You need goals. The ways you can achieve your goals are similar to the statement above about putting your customers first. Write down 8 – 10 statements starting with “I will” and live by them. These statements should in some way push you closer to your goal. Do not write statements like, “I will not go to work today.” Those statements are negative and, although humorous in the driest sense, can only push you farther away from achieving success.
Living your life positively is another way to achieve your goals more quickly. By living positively, you can ensure that even on your bad days, something good will happen. A smile from a stranger, a job offer, or a friend that needed your assistance is now at ease; all of these things are positive. One of the most important things to remember is that it does not always have to be you who benefits from your life. By helping others you are writing goodness into the minds of those that you help and one day it will be returned to you. Some people call it karma and others call it good fortune, I call it basic human instinct. People know good people; it is as simple as that. If you strive to achieve, others see it and make note of it.
How many times have you come across someone who is much worse off than you are? Think about this person. Was their overall attitude negative or positive? Did they carry themselves in a courteous and professional manner or were they rude and obnoxious to others around them? The most successful people remember where they came from. And, yes, some of them came from money, but others had to work their way to the top of that mountain before they could look down and see what they had accomplished.
Look over what you have written down thus far. You should have written down your favorite qualities that are found within yourself. Think of them for a moment. What central theme conveys these words that you have written down? When it comes to mind, jot it down also. Look at the names of the people that you wrote down and the qualities that you admire most about them. Look at the statements that you wrote to help you achieve your goals. Create your goals if you have not done so already. To achieve a goal, you must first have one. What are your business goals? Are they achievable? That is another thing; please do not create goals that you cannot come close to achieving. Keep it real. Take it one day at a time and, eventually, you will be able to create a whole new set of goals to achieve. Goals are ever changing; they change as we change. When one goal is accomplished, another is placed before you to work towards.
Sit down and rewrite everything that you wish to achieve down on another sheet of paper in the order of importance to you. Write down you goals, your “I wills”, your business goals, the people you admire and why, and the qualities that you like most about yourself. Finally, create a mission statement with all of the information that you have before you. Post it on the refrigerator. Make smaller versions that you can put in your wallet, the sun visor in your car, and on the bathroom mirror. Keep the idea of your goals handy to look at but also keep the plan for achieving them handy. Put your mission statement up at work. Create a banner at the entrance to your building or put one up in the employee break room. Print the statement on employee handbooks or on receipts that you give to your customers. Whenever you choose to publicize it, make it visible so that everyone can see it and be inspired by it. Then, believe in yourself because you can achieve your goals only if you believe that you can.