Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition

Establishing Your Clear Vision

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win,” said John F. Kennedy.¹

If the United States didn't have the vision of reaching the moon, it wouldn't have been able to set a course that ultimately led it there.

What's your vision? This may seem like a no-brainer concept, but it's very easy to lose focus and drift off into space without a clear vision.

You wouldn't pack your suitcase for a trip without first knowing where you're headed, would you? Then why do so many of us (including myself) forget where we're headed while operating our businesses? We forget to pack a change of winter clothes and find our businesses unprepared for the likely blizzards ahead.

Early in my career I was a freelance copywriter who helped businesses craft marketing messages. I was pretty clueless about vision. All I knew was that I had a service other people were willing to pay for.

Over time I found myself expanding to include design services like Web site creation and animation. I didn't really care what I was doing as long as the demand for my services was there.

Eventually, I found my business in an unfamiliar place. My focus was far from writing and more reliant on expensive and ...