Vision and Mission Statements

VISION STATEMENT

The vision statement is the focus of the business plan. It is your business future, your dreams, the goals you have set for your self. It determines what has to be achieved to make your business a success. But it also needs to be realistic and practical, a vision that you believe is genuinely achievable.

The vision statement, while general and brief requires considerable thought. You need to consider your personal goals, your current lifestyle, your future lifestyle, what you want to achieve through your business and what it will take.

Lifestyle is an important factor, particularly for small businesses. You probably don’t want to be working 70 hours per week if you can help it; how are you going to ensure you don’t have to? How are you going to balance personal life with business life? You need to be completely honest with yourself as everything else in the business plan follows from this vision.

Consider things such as management structure, turnover, profitability, size, etc. What is needed to achieve your dream? Picture your business in five years and briefly describe it in words. That is your vision statement.

Example:

Public Schools will be a system of world-class schools where students acquire the knowledge and skills to be successful as they continue their education at the postsecondary level and/or enter the workforce.


MISSION STATEMENT

The mission statement builds upon the vision by detailing the types of products and services you are offering, the customer groups you are targeting and the activities you will be carrying out. Basically it’s about what you need to do to achieve your vision.

Another way of looking at it is to answer three basic questions:

What is our most significant market?

What is our contribution to the market?

How do we rise above the competition in making that contribution (distinction)?


Answer

Market: To provide business owners

Contribution: with a systematic process of development

Distinction: that will provide the framework for business success


Mission

To provide business owners with a systematic process of development that will provide the framework for business success.