Episode 79: Why You Need to Create a Vision Statement

Created for This with Danielle Roberts

The lyrics for Be Thou My Vision by Audrey Assad

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art Thou my best Thought, by day or by night Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord Thou my great Father, I Thy true son Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise Thou mine Inheritance, now and always Thou and Thou only, first in my heart High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art High King of Heaven, my victory won May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heav'n's Sun Heart of my own heart, whate'er befall Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all What is it that's important about a Vision Statement for my business? Lindsay Teague Moreno, business owner and author, says that a vision statement is "by contrast to a mission statement, is a big picture what the company will become in the future." Talking about a mission and vision statement "these two things will serve asthe basis for everything you say and do and put out into the world." If we don't know what our vision is and what we're creating and how that will be portrayed to the world, we're going to be floating around and not really having a direction. If you don't have a vision statement, my encouragement is that you create one. Your vision statement should be consistent with your values, your passions, your strengths and your spiritual gifts. Clear, easy to remember and in every day language. Google's vision statement is to "provide access to the world's information in one click." You might be a visionary, you might not. I think I am sort of a visionary, but I get really intimidated when I sit down to write out a vision statement. You can ask "where does God want me in the future?" "how is my business pointing to the cross?" "where does God want my business in the future?" Because, as christian business owners, we want to be representing Jesus as his ambassadors. We think about the verse like Eph 2:10 says, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." The other cool things about creating a vision statement, we can point to Jesus. I've frequently said your business doesn't have to "look" Christian, it doesn't need to have Christian symbols on it, what it does need, is to be pointing to Jesus. It's about what our business looks like and what we do once we go out into the world. I'm going to help you get super practical - I want you to use the next few minutes and download the worksheet to create your own vision statement. Dream about the direction that your business is going, what are the big dreams that God has placed on your heart? Part of my vision is that I'm going to be speaking to thousands of women which is so scary! But I know that God's got this and he's put that vision on my heart. I'd love for you to email me your vision statements so I can see what you've created. You can email me with those, questions or comments at [e-mail]. Download the worksheets here.