This article was originally published in the 5-PATH IHAP Journal

By Erika Flint

In less than an hour you can have something that will not only help you bring in more business, but will also help you work more effectively and achieve your professional goals...and the results can last years. Are you interested? 

A bit of history

In 2008 I was working at a large IT company, focusing on interesting projects with talented people. But something was missing. The passion was fleeting: I would be interested in new projects for the challenge of finding creative solutions, but not for the solution itself. I knew I needed some direction in my professional life. 

What finally made me take action was a moment of insight. I was sitting at my desk reviewing my financial status and projected outcomes over time. I naturally thought about what I wanted to do when I reached the stage of retirement, and I realized I would regret staying in this line of work for another 20 years. I was unsatisfied professionally. I was passionate about things outside of work that drove me to read and learn and get excited in ways that my day-to-day work rarely did. 

I started seeking something more, and thankfully I found what I consider my life’s passion and work in hypnosis. But getting there wasn’t an easy task. How I got there was by creating a personal mission statement, and doing so was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. 

A personal mission statement helps you clarify what you want out of life, and then directs you to set a vision and goals for yourself keeping your personal values in mind. The personal mission statement eventually lead me to hypnosis through a process that was both rewarding and meaningful. Then once I started my hypnosis practice, I wanted the same thing for my business - a constant guide to help me make decisions about my business that are aligned with my values, vision, and goals for my practice. Now, it helps me grow the business and prioritize the work I do, including making informed decisions more efficiently. 

The power of a business mission statement

A business mission statement helps you clarify what you want your business to become. It helps you say no to things without regret, and enthusiastically say yes to things as well. It helps you clarify your objectives and define what it is you want to be doing. In doing so you will find that you’re working more effectively toward your business goals, and can feel good about focusing your efforts on prioritized elements that support it. It helps you set the direction for your business for the short and long term. 

Get ready with something to write or type with, and set a timer for 60 minutes. Having a deadline helps the creative process. Here we go. 

Question 1: What do you want your business to become in 5 or 10 years?

Here are some questions to help you get started with this one:

• What is the primary focus of your business? Is it hypnosis sessions with clients, or are you teaching, or writing, or creating other types of material or products? 
• What does your day look like? Are you seeing clients full time, or are you writing, creating videos, educating, traveling?
• Are you working alone, or do you have a team or employees? 
• Where is your business located? 
• What does the business office look like inside and out? 

Another way to do this is to imagine that your business is featured on the cover of a magazine with a headline and article with a description of your business inside. 

• What is the magazine? 
• What does the headline say? 
• What is the article about, and what does it say about your company? 

Write a few sentences or paragraphs about your vision for your business. Imagine this without any limitations. For example imagine that all your financial needs are met. 

 

Question 2: Keeping your business vision in mind, imagine you are at an event honoring your business in 5 or 10 years. You have the capacity to overhear what your clients, students, and customers say about you and your business. What do you want to hear? 

Write a list including what you want to overhear your clients, students, and customers saying about your business. This becomes in part both your mission, and can help clarify your company’s values. 

Here are a few examples : 

• "After hypnosis sessions I felt happier and more content, and I also felt empowered to do anything with my life. "
• "I took a class and it helped me understand how emotions impact my life, and now I’m happier and more satisfied with my life."
• "I look forward to inspirational insights from their weekly blog post."
• "I like how professional and genuine their hypnotists are. "
• "The hypnosis training was effective and purposeful, and it helped me open my hypnosis practice and start seeing clients right away. "
• "Their book changed how I look at things."

 

Question 3 : What services and products will your business provide in achieving the vision and values of questions 1, and 2? 

Review the vision and values of your business as outlined in your answers to questions 1, and 2, and create a list of the services and products your business will provide to meet those objectives. 

Here are some examples : 

• Hypnosis sessions
• Education (books, blog articles, videos, etc.)
• Hypnosis instruction
• Hypnosis products
• Entertainment

Putting it all together

For each service or product your business creates to meet your stated objectives, capture in a sentence the mission or purpose of that service or products in the following format : 

As a (service/products), (business name) (objective / purpose). 

Examples (put your actual business name in where it reads “my business” - it’s more powerful) : 

As a provider of (hypnosis sessions), (my business) (helps clients remove erroneous and limiting beliefs and emotions, feel happier and healthier, and feel empowered to achieve anything they want in their life). 

As a provider of (community education),  (my business) (provides education on a variety of topics related to hypnosis to help people understand the power of hypnosis, the mind-body connection, and lead happier and more fulfilling lives). 

The list becomes your business’s working mission statement. You can rewrite it to a concise set of sentences as you wish. Be as concise as possible, but as vague as necessary. 

Revisit your business mission statement annually and adjust as necessary. It’s common for the mission of a business to change over time. 

 

How to apply your business mission statement

Allow your mission statement to help you when making decisions about the prioritization of tasks and commitments. For example, if you’re wondering whether or not to take the time to write and submit an abstract to speak at an event, first consider if it’s inline with the mission of your business. If not, you can direct your precious time elsewhere. 

Understand that your mission statement becomes an indicator, guiding you to prioritize your work. Anything not inline with your mission is basically outside the scope of work for you. If something is directly inline with the mission of your work, it’s easy to prioritize this work to meet your business objectives. 

As you start applying your business mission statement to your daily work, allow the tasks directly inline with your business mission to be prioritized to the top of your list. These become “mission critical” tasks. They are often income generating tasks, but not always. Mission critical tasks can also be ones that, for example,  help grow the visibility of your business and its mission, but don’t directly bring in income. 

As hypnotists, you likely realize the importance of visualizing what you want, which is an inherent benefit in this process of developing your business mission statement. But over time you will find that having a business mission statement is more than just imaging what you want - it enables you to make business decisions faster, prioritize work and grow your business, work more effectively, and feel good about the work you do and the work you chose not to do.