Many people dive into entrepreneurship without first understanding what they are trying to achieve. 

They find themselves in a business setting, unsure of how they got there and uncertain about their objectives. 

Undertaking a vision-setting exercise is crucial for any business owner. It helps you set or reset your values and ensure that you operate within a value-based environment that aligns with your beliefs about what is essential for contentment and happiness in your work life. 

Defining your business's ‘why’ is a starting point for reimagining and building a value-driven enterprise where everyone comprehends the direction, vision, and philosophy of what is being pursued. 

Without a map, it's impossible to know your destination.

Establishing your business's 'why' allows you to begin crafting the roadmap for the future you wish to create.

Before we continue, this is important: Your business's ‘why’ is yours. It is not the same as mine or anyone else’s. 

If the purpose of your business is to make as much money as possible and create a lifestyle for you and your family, then you should live by that and make sure that is what you create. If there is something else, something different, then you should do that, too.

Vision setting is one of the most important things you can do. It will set you up to develop your business. It will be difficult for some people because it will not seem challenging enough, structured enough, or logical enough. But it is critical. You can’t attract people to your brand without understanding your vision and why your company exists.

A Japanese proverb states, "Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." This sums up the importance of vision setting. It frames everything you do and allows you to move forward with energy and purpose that would not be present without it.

Why are you here? What is the point of your organisation? After completing this, you can move on to setting strategies and structures for finance, marketing, sales, HR, etc. Vision setting has to be done first, and the rest follows. 

• Vision
• Values

Vision  

Vision setting is not about saying, 'Go.' It is about saying, 'Let's go together.' 

It allows you to attract employees or customers who agree with the direction you are going. It would be best to put it on your wall or other areas of your branding, reminding yourself daily why you are here. 

Values

Following this, move on to define your values. 

For us here, our values are BE HERE.

We use these values when we have difficult decisions to make. They help us determine which route to take and attract the right people to our organisation, both customers and employees.

Your vision could be to make a more significant difference in society. It could be to make as much money as possible or to become extraordinarily famous. It could be anything you want. But you have to be honest.

A helpful exercise in vision setting is to take a piece of A4 paper, lay it out in landscape, and write your date of birth in one corner. Then, draw a line diagonally and put the current date on the other side. Split the date in the middle, grab a coffee, go back through your timeline, and write down the most significant moments in your life. 

When you have done this, go back through it and categorise it. What are these milestones? Are they financial, career, or emotional milestones, etc.? You will start to find patterns and identify the most important things in your life. 

Then, you can say, "I would like my organisation to represent these values." It lets you frame why you are here and reminds you what you are doing.