You'll never get where you're going, if you don't decide where you're going.

As my husband teases me about… I love to state the obvious. 🙂

Now, being a details type of girl means I have a tendency to sacrifice the bigger picture at times. For my sanity and for the health of business, tunnel vision is something I must keep in check. (And as some of you may know, I”m SO not a goals person.) But, also I’ve realized this it is not only important that I hold a “big vision” for my business, but it is really important my clients have one for their businesses, otherwise it makes my job, to put it nicely, a lot harder than it needs to be.

When I talk to a client about their business and afterward I can’t really describe what their business is and where they see it going… I almost literally have nothing to base any design on for them. Basically, I’m just pulling magic out of hat and crossing my fingers that the client will like it.

And, in my experience, this lack of bigger vision makes nearly all marketing a guessing game.

If you don’t have a big picture, you marketing in general will feel like (And yes, I’m speaking from personal experience, here. I am not throwing stones.):

• You feel a bit aimless. Like you’re throwing stuff at the wall and hoping it sticks.
• You’re not sure who you’re marketing to, but you’re sure it’s someone who’s breathing.
• Almost everything you do for marketing feels a little futile.
• Creating marketing priorities is a joke.
• You don’t want to “market” your business.

So, how do you get one of these big visions?

Well, you just make that sh@t up and go with it. And when it doesn’t fit anymore? You just change it. Yep, that’s right. You change it.

This was my problem: I was scared of being “locked” into something. This is what I realized: My fear was unfounded, because like everything else – a big vision is a moving target.

What having one helps me with (and hopefully you if you’re stuck):

• Decisiveness. Choosing to do just a couple things and sticking with them.
• Focus. You start to know “who” your marketing needs to be created around.
• Purpose. You feel like you’re actually putting energy into the right places.
• Ability to prioritize. By comparing my “to-do” list with where I’m going, it’s easier to decide what’s the most important task.
• Excitement about marketing. Yep, you heard that right. It actually becomes fun.

Here’s my current big vision for my business:

My business is like boutique where people go to get high-quality work. I’m a go-to web designer for people committed to kicking-ass in the online world and have a waiting list 2 months deep. I’m not interested in out-sourcing my design and web development – I very much want to be an owner-operator. I am extremely choosey about who I work with and I am “straight up” in how I work with them.

How it translates to marketing stuff:

• I blog and I do my newsletter, weekly.
• I choose a very specific blogs to comment on and share each week.
• I create online conversations with people who are already marketing online.
• I can create an easy checklist for these things.
• I measure the the results.

Now, it doesn’t always look so pretty during my week and daily tasks… but my big vision is there, like a gentle guiding hand.

Do you a big vision for your business? If so, share it! If not, well, make one up and share it! :)!