I’m On A Mission, So You Better Just Listen: Why A Mission Statement Is So Important For Your Business?

Businesses need mission statements.  A mission statement provides clarity, alignment, and inspiration for you, your staff, and your customers. Your company’s mission is a beacon lighting the way for where you want your business to go and telling everyone why your company’s existence matters.  

When I started my first business (the law practice), I knew I needed a business plan. I just didn’t see the point in investing time and energy in drafting a traditional one.

A traditional business plan talks about SWOT analysis, financial forecasts, start-up capital, and requires an executive summary. These are all critical areas to explore eventually, but I wasn’t seeking a bank loan or venture capital funding. I was bootstrapping my business and needed a plan to help me to start serving clients and making money right away.  

Enter The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (TPE) by Mike Michalowicz. TPE focuses on providing start-up advice to entrepreneurs with very little money (me) and little to no formal business training (also me).

Instead of creating a traditional business plan, TPE advocates creating a Prosperity Plan. A prosperity plan is a simple, one-page document that describes your company’s purpose, mission, values, and competitive advantage. As time wore on, I learned that the one sentence version of the prosperity plan is just as important to your company’s growth as the plan itself. That one sentence version is called a mission statement.

What is a mission statement?

Entrepreneur magazine defines a business mission statement as a sentence describing a company’s function, markets, and competitive advantages; a short written statement of your business goals and philosophies.

Your business’ mission statement provides clarity, alignment, and inspiration for you, your staff, and your customers. It’s a beacon lighting the way for where you want your business to go and telling everyone why your company’s existence matters.

Why do you need one?

There are two quotes from Simon Sinek that drive home the reasoning behind why every business needs a mission statement:

People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.

And

When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.

Today people have a lot of options for spending their time and money. Long gone are the days when customers paid attention to you because you were the only game in town.  Customers today want to do business with companies that have ethical standards and heart and that demonstrate these standards in every part of their business. So if you want customers to buy from you and to keep coming back, you have to inspire them through something more than just lining your pockets with cash.

That’s why your mission is so important.

Your mission statement succinctly communicates the reasons that customers should pay attention to, and buy from, you.  And if your mission resonates with a lot of people, those same customers will become your brand advocates propelling your business and its mission forward.

How to create a mission statement

So how do you create a mission statement for your business? Well, the easiest way is to start with the one-page Prosperity Plan as described in TPE. There are 6 components of that plan – your life’s mission, your business’s destiny, the immutable laws or values for your company, your area of innovation (how are different from your competition), and your community (who do you serve).

Once you’ve written your one-page prosperity plan addressing each of these components, try summarizing each element into one sentence.  Then narrow your ideas even further by turning those 6 sentences into one powerful mission statement.

Remember that your mission statement provides clarity, focus, and inspiration. So if it doesn’t inspire you to act, then you need to keep iterating until you find a statement that does.

Here are a few examples of powerful mission statements to help get you started:

• Make-A-Wish Foundation – The mission of Make-A-Wish International is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy.
• Nordstrom – Nordstrom’s mission is “to give customers the most compelling shopping experience possible.”
• Google – Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Now it’s your turn. Have you thought about your business’ mission?  What do you stand for? Why should customers buy from you instead of the competition? Let’s talk more about your mission in the comments below.