The 3 Pillars of a Purposeful Business
Do you ever lack clarity or direction in your business? Do you sometimes feel like you're fighting against something and not making the progress you want to make? Have you ever found yourself jumping from idea to idea, feeling like nothing's really working? And, have you ever felt, at one time or another, like just giving up and doing something more straightforward..?!
If you answered "Yes!" to any or all of those questions, then it’s very likely that a) you haven’t yet fully clarified and aligned with your purpose, or b) you have done this work previously but you have become detached or misaligned from your path.
I believe that businesses, and life in general, become more purposeful when they are built around the three main pillars of: Your Core Values, Your Goals and Your Mission, which I will go into more detail around in a just a moment. Firstly, I think it might be important for me to define what I mean by “purpose” in the context of business.
Purpose to me is the sweet spot of where what is most important to you, what moves and drives you on a deep level, meets with well-defined goals and outcomes (see the diagram below).
When you live and work purposefully you are able to make better, more confident decisions. And, as you will know, when you’re a business owner there are many, many decisions to be made, both large and small, on a daily basis. When your business is run with purpose, you as the business owner feel much more motivated as you have a clear sense of direction, and you have a solid grounding to fall back on when times get tough. You’ll also feel much more fulfilled overall, as what you’re doing will be aligned to what’s most important to you at your very core. Ultimately, working through these three pillars and aligning with your purpose, is what’s needed to keep you in your lane and get you back on track whenever you need it most.
Let’s now dive into the three pillars of a purposeful business.
Pillar 1: Your Core Values
Establishing your core values is an essential first step when it comes to building your business, and your life. Knowing your core values will help you to make assured decisions with ease, as you will know what is most important to you. For example, if one of your core values was “Freedom”, meaning the freedom to be your own boss and manage your own time to do more of what you love, you would ensure that you set your business up to accommodate this.
Your values act like an inner compass, they guide you and bring your head and heart into alignment. When you begin to tune in to this guidance, you can navigate your day-to-day with conviction and intuition.
Lastly, when you set goals that are in alignment with your core values, they feel much more motivating as they are in alignment with and in support of what is most important to us – we are not fighting against ourselves.
Which leads me on to…
Pillar 2: Your Goals
Goal setting is the bedrock of building a successful business. If you don’t know the direction you are headed, by definition you and your business will be lacking purpose. A goal can range from something as simple as completing five social media posts, or as visionary as future financial freedom. However, in the short and medium term, it’s important that you set goals that you can actually achieve. Now, I’m not encouraging you to play small here, quite the opposite – shoot for the moon! I just mean that your goals need to be:
Specific
Measurable
Within your control
Energising and inspiring
Impacting you and others positively, and, as mentioned just now…
Aligned with your core values
Pillar 3: Your Mission
Your Mission is defined as knowing your WHY, your WHO and your HOW…
WHY are you in the business you’re in? What led you to start your business? What is it that drives you forwards? What do you want to achieve and what legacy do you want to leave behind?
WHO do you want to work with? Who is your ideal client? Why would they seek out your services? What is their why?
HOW you are going to work with your clients? What services or programs will you offer? Will you work one-to-one? With groups? What is the specific value and transformation that you will provide your clients? Your “how” is the unique way you get your clients from where they are now to where they want to be.
If you build your business from the solid foundations of these pillars, and if you do the deep work to understand what really motivates and drives you, you will never stray too far from your purpose and will have an endless source of motivation as you hit the inevitable speed bumps that every business owner hits along the way.
If this article spoke to you and you feel like you would like to dive deeper into these topics, as well as much more, I am running a full-day workshop: ‘Setting Yourself Up for Success’ on Thursday 25th May from 9:30am – 4:30pm at the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Moor Hall, Cookham, Berkshire SL6 9QH.
Come away from the day having identified the gaps in your business, defined your core values, and learned how to set goals that you can actually achieve. You’ll also leave with a personal Mission Statement that you will use to drive your business forwards with renewed clarity and motivation. Priced at £267 including the full day’s coaching and training, all materials, lunch and snacks.
You can find out more and book at www.vickimessenger.com/events or, if you have any questions feel free to reach out to me either via email at vicki@vickimessenger.com or for an online Discovery Session and I will be pleased to chat with you!
Vicki Messenger helps empower aspiring and early-stage female founders to confidently create, launch and grow successful soul-feeding businesses, enabling them to be both fulfilled and financially free.
Get in touch with her through her website, or why not join our supportive community of incredible like-minded businesswomen at: The Collective - A Community for Women in Business
