A mission statement is a clear, succinct statement that describes the impact you wish your business to have.

This statement is the ultimate refinement of everything your business does. It allows you to explain to someone in 15 seconds or less what your business does.

A common mistake in establishing a mission statement is to base it around what the business does on an operational level, and the service or product it provides. The mistake is in defining the ‘what’. Instead, define your business by the value it brings to your clients – define the destination you’re delivering your client to, not the process by which you get there. For  example, if your service is to help people lose weight through Personal Training, your mission statement shouldn’t relate to the Personal Training (the ‘how’) or even the weight loss (the ‘what’), but should instead highlight the ‘why’ – the effect this weight loss has on your clients… ‘Building self-confidence and health’. Ultimately, it’s not the weight loss people are looking for, it’s how losing the weight will make them feel, and how it will change their life.

In addition to defining your impact, your mission statement should define the people you’re impacting.

Clearly defining a mission statement can be difficult – it needs to encapsulate the impact you wish your business to have, and who it will impact.

As your business grows, both in size and complexity, it can be grounding to come back to your mission statement. With Range of Motion Business Mentorship Clients, we find this simplification is vital. Even in the face of all the complexity, your mission statement allows a simplification of your business to ensure you’re continuing to create impact in the way you want to.