Mission, Vision and Values. If you don’t know what these are, you probably aren’t alone. Unfortunately, many business owners become so busy working IN their business they leave severely little time to work ON the business. Now, this is understandable to a certain degree. After all, life can get really busy, and if you have some level of success, you will be constantly occupied. However, a chicken with its head cut off is equally as busy as the average business.
Is foresight really that important? How many of you have worked for years only to wake up one day and realize you are not where you want to be. Unfortunately, life isn’t as long as we would wish. Also, we have been duped into believing society’s version of happiness works for everyone. How many college graduates are in a job they went to college for? Society tells us to go to college. For what? Entry level jobs aren’t even 'entry level' anymore. Graduates end up getting an internship after college to gain experience for a job they thought they already possessed the skills for. They could have done that without spending tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands on a 'useless' degree.
This is not to say that college and universities are inherently bad. In fact, if you've thoroughly thought about your vision for life and college is a steppingstone in that journey, go for it. However, most who go on to higher education only do so because society and others have told them to do so. Ask a teenager what they want to do with his or her life. Surprisingly, 99% will say, “I don’t know”. Yet, we tell them not to worry and that they are still young. Then, 10 years go by, they have a mountain of debt, and still don’t know where life is leading them. Instead of telling them to 'just let it go', maybe we should encourage them to explore their passions BEFORE recommending college.
As a business owner, if you have 'plenty of work to do' but no vision of where you're going... what makes you any different than the typical 'aimless college graduate'? On the other end of the spectrum, a small percentage of the teens and early 20 somethings have realized the need for a vision and have created businesses, done apprenticeships, and planned for success. Everyone knows the kid who was always having lemonade stands at age 12 but now has a successful car detailing business at 19.
Maybe developing a mission, vision, and values is a daunting task. Understandable. However, we can guarantee having a vision, no matter how absurd, will get you farther in life simply because you have a map. Just as driving aimlessly doesn’t get you very far, having no plan will deliver the same effect. Plans won't always go exactly as you want, but it will go a lot better than not having any plan at all. We live and breath by our mission, vision, and values here at Consolidated Assurance, and it's the key to our industry-leading success. We encourage you to develop your own and do the same.
