If I were to ask you what your purpose is, how would you respond?

If I asked you to clearly articulate your vision, what would you tell me?

If I asked you to outline your short, medium and long terms goals - the objectives for your business aligned to your purpose and vision - could you do so?

Because the reality is that most hard working business owners have a desire to succeed, gain more customers, earn bigger profits and spend more time with their families. They have an impressive work ethic. And yet too few can answer these questions despite the fact that no-one achieves true success without answering them.

Some people reach a reasonable level of success and create a comfortable lifestyle but they don't achieve a return commensurate with all the hard work and risk they put in. That's what a lack of purpose and vision will do for you. It's that feeling of another day on the hamster wheel but no real progress.........and you can't break out of the cycle.

And yet the idea of spending time articulating what success looks like seems alien to many business owners. Understandably so. None of us were taught how vital visioning is to our business success.

And yet there are examples all around us. There's a reason that memorable people in history are called 'visionaries'. And why successful entrepreneurs talk about seeing the 'big picture'. And why the victors in sport tell how they envision winning.

Having a vision of where you are going and how to get there isn't a 'nice to have' - it's essential.

It might not seem important today.....lacking a vision doesn't hurt you in the day-to-day bustle of everyday business....but it matters over the long term. How else will you know if every idea, decision and action you take will move you forward.

There is a specific process involved in determining your purpose and creating your vision - it doesn't just happen - and if you want to live life on your terms it's worth getting creative and finding out how it works.

But defining your purpose, vision and goals is only the first of the seven steps on the road to business success. The full process that our clients at Guilford Accounting follow are:

• Determining your purpose, vision and goals;
• Creating a strategy and business plan;
• Designing a sustainable business model;
• Knowing and understanding your numbers;
• Getting and keeping customers;
• Transitioning through the stages from technician to manager to entrepreneur;
• Scaling your business.

We work with you through each of these stages providing a resource rich experience for the business owners and key members of their management team to follow. For example we use the Business Model Canvas, a technique widely used by larger businesses but often overlooked, to develop a sustainable business model.

For more details and a no obligation discussion about our Business Development programme please complete this form.