Seeing a 'Vision' for Your Business

13 Nov

“Full-fledged human thought always tries to project new realities. And all knowledge about the past… plays only a subservient role to better project a new reality” - Uktomsky

There’s a short video interview I saw of J.R.R Tolkien, and the guy was asking him about how he came up with The Hobbit.

First, the interviewer asked him if he laid out the whole story, and had it all mapped out?

“The world existed is possé and in a large scale plan before the hobbit was written. The Hobbit was in fact originally an attempt to write something outside of it, and it grew into it. “

“So you invented the world before you wrote the habit?”

Tolkien: “Yes indeed.”

Quite the feat.

From what I understand, Tolkien had a very energetic mind. Growing up he was already fascinated with different languages. And basically would invent them and speak them at dinner.

And when he was creating his ‘world’, he drew on all kinds of influences and mythology.

Anyway, he did all of this before the story was crafted

When he was building his Ultima series of online games, Richard Garriot did something similar:

“I eventually came to believe that instead of conceiving of a story and then creating a world in which it could be told and make sense, I should create the world first - then let the player have access to all of its capabilities as they negotiate their own story.” - Richard Garriot

The juice for small biz-ness?

A lot of people think about their biz-ness by coming up with an offer that they present to someone, for some cash.

This lets you make money and hopefully build a good life.

And it gives them a solution.

Then, you might want to build more ‘brand’ around your business. So you get some images, or learn to write with more personality. Whatever it might be.

But two problems can come up.

One is the business can always have a ‘self serving’ undertone to it. Which is graspy, and not that attractive.

The other thing, is that the business owner can often feel stuck around what to do next. They spend their time inside of their business, consuming social media, and struggle with new (and good) ideas.

What’s the next offer?

What’s the next move?

And there can be this loop, where they get stuck, because the leading part of the whole thing to begin with was transactional.

And at some point, it is less attractive to clients.

When we create a business vision, we look at it from a different perspective.

We stop thinking about the money in our pocket for a second.

We stop thinking about the offer that we have.

And we think about the world that we want to create. And what that looks like, visually in our mind.

A little while back, I was talking to a woman who runs an NDIS support business. It’s one of the leading businesses in that market in the state, and is growing rapidly.

One thing I noticed, was how many ideas for new offers she had.

There were offers for the client level.

Workshop offer ideas for other businesses.

Training offers.

She had dozens up her sleeve.

I asked her about what kind of future she saw in her mind because of all this? And she proceeded to explain an entirely different world. A world where her clients - people with various disabilities - were participating in life at a deeper level, and doing all kinds of cool things.

Her vision of her world was driving her business and activities.

As the late Jim Camp teaches us, vision drives decision.

Now, this ain’t easy for everyone. In particular, new business owners who are looking for those early clients, because there’s that early focus on money for a lot of people.

But it’s a skill that we can practice, and leads to much more magnetic (and often profitable) services.

‘Thinking visually’, and creating a vision

In the past, we’ve run all kinds of vision activities. Vision boards. Workshops to ‘create’ a vision.

And there are a lot of variations of that which can work.

But the one thing that ties it all together, is that a vision is ‘visual’. It’s something that we can see.

And while this might be different for you, I’ve personally found that there are a few things that can really help to create more ‘vision.’

Step one - Restore energy

When a new business owner comes in, very rarely do they have a strong vision. Usually, they’re burned out, scattered, or bouncing around different offers or ideas. Even if their business is doing well on paper. So the first thing we try to do is, we take the pressure off. We lay everything out, and try to calm things down enough to see what’s going on.

From there, we try to help the business owner see that a) there’s usually time, and b) that the future is bright.

That’s often enough to get a little relief, and take the pressure off themselves for a second. Restoring their own energy.

That sounds corny, I know, but if you can’t restore energy, how can you come up with a vision, given that it demands a lot of energy.

Step two - Have interesting conversation to stimulate the mind

A lot of people don’t know this, but Tolkien was actually close friends with C.S. Lewis. They got together and formed a group called the ‘Inklings’. And Tolkien and Lewis didn’t get along all the time. But still, their conversations would spark more creative thinking, and a deeper vision.

In the end, from what I’ve heard, Lewis was a big reason for Tolkien to actually finish the work.

Conversation with your clients is going to be one of the best options. But also with friends, peers, mentors. Whatever.

Most people stay in their little box way too much, and get stuck behind a screen.

And generally, that isolation combined with scrolling social media ain’t going to lead to a strong vision for the future of a business.

Step three - Look at great old work. Then re-imagine it into something new

I read an article about a guy who started a company that hosts aged care facilities that you can rent out.

So it’s like Airbnb, but for older people who need the aged care side of things.

Anyway, they blew up fast.

The point of this? It’s built on the Airbnb DNA. It’s the same model, resynthesided into something new.

And air b’n’b? A blend of the home rental model, with hotels.

Tolkien’s work?

A lot of his different races and villages, filled with heroes and epic stories, came out of Eddas, a collection of Nordic tales from 1220, by Snorri Sturluson.

It’s new. But it’s build on old work that is great.

We see this with businesses all the time. One guy recently started a business around mindfulness and ‘mental performance’ training for kids. While his new offer saw almost instant traction, it was built on previous work he did with adults, and blended with his personal story as a dad.

How can your vision for your business be ‘augmented’ by looking at what exists, and building on it for something greater and more relevant to today’s world?

Step four - Practice ‘seeing’

A lot of people today don’t see much beyond the feed on their phones. I know that ain’t totally fair. But you’d be surprised, when you meet a lot of different business owners. But that’s a problem, because it takes your eyes off of your own vision.

If you want to learn to do a handstand, one of the big things is to ‘see and believe’ that you can do the handstand.

If you just keep kicking up, you can spend years trying and get nowhere.

When you ‘see’ it, you start to connect with the movement lots faster.

And so it is with your business.

Practice ‘seeing’ the world you want to create.

For us, it’s small businesses that are creative leaders in their niche. They don’t follow the status quo, but rather create a new ‘game’ for their customers to help their customers win in the fast changing world.

They are great communicators, and they take risks.

So I practice ‘seeing’ how that all connects, and what that actually looks like visually.

You can practice this with little tasks, and then it becomes a skill you can carry forward into your overall business.

Step five - Think of exactly what you want to create. Then create that

If you want to create a social media post, create that.

If you want to create a book. Create that.

This sounds almost too simple.

But it’s easy to over-complicate your offers and marketing (and business!).

When you think of exactly what it is that you want to build, whether it’s a project, or your overall business, then you are way ahead.

A lot of people don’t really know what they want to create.

And therein lies the root of the problem.

Summary

A successful business needs something to drive it forward.

Necessity can be a driver.

Competition can be a driver.

But one of the most powerful drivers, is creating a strong vision that you can see and believe in.

This doesn’t mean that a vision at any point in time is fixed. Or can’t evolve. But it does mean that there’s an image of a new world that you are creating. One that you believe in, that also helps the people you serve.

Some people tick this box with a ‘vision statement’ up on a website. They tell people what they’re about, or what the mission is.

But it’s another thing to practice seeing and believing in our own vision. And creating the world that we want to build in our mind, before we go out there and start doing it, and ‘show’ people what that vision looks like, and how it helps the people we serve.

Some people are naturally good at this.

Others are more stuck in language, and rules, and may benefit from partnering with a more visual person.

Either way, all of it is a skill we can work on, and apply it into your business daily.