With my recent sharing of my upcoming rebrand and the sharing of some of the things like premium plugins and my choice of support software, I’ve also been giving thoughts to things like mission statements, vision statements, and more.

Truth be told, I’ve almost always considered that kind of stuff to be related more to larger companies or organizations.

But why?

Why is it not applicable to a freelancer, a small team or a small business?

Missions and Visions: What’s Yours?

Mission Impossible?

Mission Impossible? We actually get to make the mission our own.

To be clear, there is a bit of a difference between a mission statement and a vision statement.

According to Wikipedia, a mission statement:

Defines the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, succinctly describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its vision.

And a vision statement is made up of:

Beliefs that are shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values drive an organization’s culture and priorities and provide a framework in which decisions are made.

When it comes down to it, I think that missions and visions have three scenarios for companies:

  • They don’t exist.
  • They are weakly defined.
  • The are strongly defined and even followed and understood by the organization.

I could be way off base here – and I’d love to know your thoughts on this – but if you’re self-employed or working with a small team (be it two, four, six, ten, whatever) people – do you guys have mission statements and/or vision statements?

This Matters?

Two years ago, I probably would’ve said “This matters, but there are more important things to focus on right now,” but the longer I’ve been working for myself and the more I’ve interacted with other people, I want to be able to give a succinct, clear understanding of what my brand and company stand for.

Ideally, it will communicate exactly what I’m about so that when I’m approached about what I do or what I’m about, it’s crystal clear. Furthermore, all executive decisions (which in self-employment, really just lies with me) go through the filter of these statements helping to keep me on focus.

But with that said, I ask because I’m currently tossing around a few of my own. The truth is, I have the crux of what I want to say, but I’m still working through on how to actually state it, you know?

So do you guys follow through with this stuff? If so, what’s your mission and vision?