How To Write A Powerful Mission Statement
What is a mission statement?
A mission statement describes your business’ goals and core values to your target audience in a simple and concise manner. Think of it like a roadmap; a tool you can use to remind you and your audience why you are practicing your business. Mission statements are important for everyone to understand in the company so the team stays organized. Even if you are a party of 1 wearing many hats in the early business days, it’s still important to have a mission statement to divert to in order to keep you motivated and focused.
How To Write A Powerful Mission Statement
Your Mission Statement Should Reflect 3 Concepts:
Make It Short & Sweet - Your vision statement should be 1-3 sentences. You want your mission statement to be memorablee, that way you can recite it to anyone interested in talking about your business. Plus, it’s essential to keep on the right track and to remember why you began the business in the first place.
Stick To Your Core Values - What life principles do you value as a human being? Some examples of values include honesty, curiosity, integrity, generosity, courage, compassion, etc. I suggest picking 3-6 core values that you can remember on a daily basis. These are principles that you live by as the owner, and thus will reflect in your business’ mission statement and day-to-day practices.
Connect To Your Audience - Who are you speaking to when it coms to your business? For example, my target audience is mothers who want to begin building their own businesses. I can truly connect to this audience because I have lived through trials and tribulations when creating a business from scratch.
Target’s mission statement is an excellent example of this:
“To help all families discover the joy of everyday life”.
You see what they did there? We can see they value “helping” “discovering”. Their audience is families. In this mission statement they make the ordinary and mundane not seem to bad….if you visit Target. Think of all the Tik-Tok moms who make content about them having agreat day by just going to get Starbucks and Target. Their mission statement truly reflects their marketing and business practices.
Famous Company Mission Statement Examples:
Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Patagonia: We’re in business to save our home planet.
Disney: To entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds, and innovative technologies that make ours the world’s premier entertainment company.
Ted Talks: Spread ideas
T-Mobile: Redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation.
Google: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Life is Good: To spread the power of optimism.
PayPal: To democratize financial services to ensure that everyone, regardless of background or economic standing, has access to affordable, convenient and secure products and services to take control of their financial lives.
Apple: To bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons, and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.
Let’s Get to Business!
Open up your notebook in your favorite work area or take a walk ready to think take notes on your phone.
Write down some of your favorite core value words
Write down who your audience is and synonym words for your audience
Write a few verbs - what exactly is your business doing?
Now play word scramble! You should have 3 lists of words in each category. Of course you’r going to need filler words, but try placing and mixing up words until you get at least 10 different mission statements. The one that rests the best with your heart is the winner.
And remember- as you and your business grows, your mission statement may need to change as well. I’ve done this before and so have many of the famous companies you see above! Change is inevitable. Good luck mama!