Starting a new business is scary. New businesses seem to fail as fast as your new favorite restaurant seems to close. In fact, half of all new businesses will not survive their fifth year of operation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So that is frightening. Maybe you’ve been told, or feel like, you should forget that new business idea, and save the heartache, not to mention the potential bankruptcy.
But if you’re an entrepreneur at heart, the easy way out is not for you. So how do you survive and avoid being another statistic? How do you avoid failing? The key is having a compelling vision.
Starting a New Business
Before we get to the details of how you design a compelling vision, let’s cover some basics of starting a new business:
- The Economy– Your local economy has to at least being doing okay and should not be in the tank.
- Market Need– There must be a market need for your product or service.
- Competitive Advantage– You need to have a sustainable competitive advantage for your product or service that new market entrants can’t easily copy.
- Risk– As an entrepreneur, you need to be comfortable with risk. Successful entrepreneurs often have failed several times before they have succeeded. They have a pretty high tolerance for risk. If this is not you, you might want to think hard about starting a new business.
You might have all this covered. Many new businesses won’t, but if you have, great.
Crafting a Compelling Vision
Having a compelling vision is the X factor that keeps you going through the tough times. Here are the keys to having a compelling vision:
- Passion– To be a compelling vision, you must be white-hot passionate about it. It could be rooted in what you’ve learned from a traumatic experience, which I call a crucible experience. Perhaps you have an idea for a business that will help people avoid the pain you have gone through. Or perhaps you have lain awake for years dreaming of this idea. You just know with enough effort will succeed.
- Your Beliefs and Values– A compelling vision that is tied to your fundamental beliefs and values will give that vision much greater staying power. The more your vision is tied to something deep within you, the more you will find a way to bypass any obstacle.
- Your Innate Wiring– It is not enough to identify a good idea with a market need. You need to have the wiring and the gifting to make it succeed. If you are going to start a software company, you should know quite a bit about software and be able to roll your sleeves up and make it happen.
- Your Team– For a vision to become a reality, you need a great team. They might work for you or be associates that work with you. They might even be friends and family. Either way, you can’t do it alone. You need to have a team that has totally bought into the vision, with skills that are complementary to yours.
A compelling vision can mean the difference between a new business succeeding or failing. A vision that is tied to the depths of who you are, where you have this sense that nothing will stop it, is powerful. A vision of significance, where you believe in some way you will make the world a better place and help others, is too big, too important not to give it your all. That kind of vision is contagious. Your team will want to give it their all, because they can see you do. This will also be evident to your customers, your suppliers, your financiers, everyone you deal with. It could mean the difference when you ask your employees to stay on for one more month without pay, before the key sale happens. Or it might make the difference with your bank rolling your loan over for a couple more months.
A compelling vision can be the difference.
Reflective Questions
- How passionate are you about your vision?
- How much do feel your vision will make a difference in the world?
- How bought into the vision is your team? Will they do almost anything to make it succeed?