Business plans: communicating your vision

Lynne Franks on how to communicate your vision through your business plan.

Mission statements
Although mission statements setting out the company's values as well as aims weren't an essential part of any of the business plans I came across in my research, when I was forming Globalfusion, my new company, I developed mine before I did anything else.

I was full of many different ideas when I decided to start a new business in the United States. Not having a business partner or senior management team to talk things over with at that time, I worked with independent 'creative manager and mentor' Raymond Davi, who gave me some terrific feedback and structure for my vision.

One of the first things that I developed with Ray was getting my mission statement clear, not only to include the big picture of my new business, but to incorporate my values into the basic structure.

I had made various notes before my first session with Ray. By talking them through with him, and using his method of putting all key thoughts onto large poster-size paper with bright-coloured pens, all around the room, I was able to put my statement together in a way that read well and resonated with my inner thoughts.

Write your own
Write down the values you most want present in your SEED enterprise. Using this list, write a paragraph describing how those values fit into the mission for your business. Your mission statement isn't as detailed as an executive summary; rather, it's a brief declaration of your creative concept and vision.