At Planning for Life, we believe that the Mission Statement is just as relevant today as ever. Instead of a pithy, one-liner, we should aim for a whole page. As entrepreneurs, our business mission statement should coincide with the mission statement we have for life. Having conflicting mission statements will bring tension and ultimately lead to a loss of integrity and deep feelings of unease.

 

In order to formulate a Mission Statement, we need to be clear on its purpose. It should be descriptive, visionary and practical, qualitative and quantitative. It should include our description of how we feel our business can change the world. We need to state what it is we aim to achieve, both for ourselves and for our customers, and our plan for how we intend to do that. It needs to list the principles and guidelines within the business that will make this possible, in a way that resonates with our personal values and ensure that our business values offer the same degree of integrity.

We need to describe our market – the people we intend to sell our products or services to. We need to describe the physical aspects of the business, its location(s), whether it’s a physical or online (virtual) concern, its size, the size of the customer base. We need to include what we envision our turnover and profitability to be.

The Mission Statement should also contain information on our competitors – what they are doing and how we aim to offer better products/services so that we stand head and shoulders above the rest!

As busy entrepreneurs, we mustn’t lose sight of the primary business goal which is to create sufficient time and money to lead the lives we really want to. This means that we need to remember some key elements when formulating our business Mission Statement: how much time we intend to devote to the business, how much money we hope to make in a given amount of time. Because the business will be our primary personal asset, how we intend to manage the business and what our exit strategy is. Do we want to capitalize the business or pass it on to family members?

Finally, we offer a checklist of items that should be considered when developing a Mission Statement (courtesy of Michael Gerber and The E-Myth):

• What line of business are we in, what products/services do we offer?
• What size is the company and what are its growth objectives? 
• What is the geographic scope for the business? 
• What are our target markets and market positioning? 
• What do our typical customers look like? 
• What is the time scale for the business? 
• Are we going to compete in the market and what is the basis for our competitive advantage? 
• How will we enhance our product/service to make it more attractive? 
• What messages do we intend to put across and how will we do this? 
• What is distinctive about our company in terms of its behaviour/qualifications? 
• How will our staff be an integral part of the business? 
• How shall we manage our operations in such a way as to ensure that we fulfil our obligations to our clients so that they recommend us to friends and family?