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Why you need a vision board before you start your business
This is Malla Haridat here, helping you kick start your business. I am a small business coach and I love helping folks take their business to the next level.
I just came off of a week of having a nasty, nasty sinus cold, so if you still hear me very nasally, my apologies in advance.
But I’ve just had something in my spirit that I want to get out.
What is a Vision Board?
So, first of all for those of you that may not know what a Vision Board is. A Vision board is simple. It is you basically sitting down with your six-year-old self-cutting out visuals or words that call to you.
Something that captures your attention:
- a place that you want to visit,
- a car that you want to own,
- a home that you want to have.
Those are material things. But you can also post phrases.
So I’ve done business vision boards where a phrase like ‘Blessed’ spoke to me. I wanted to make sure that I was walking in.
So you create the board with your six-year-old self. Not your grown self. Not your grown and sexy self. It’s your six-year-old sitting down, cutting out, and putting these pictures on paper.
There’s research that actually backs this activity up. Creating the board taps into the part of your brain around goal setting. It helps to have pictures that visually stimulate you.
For my Type A personalities who don’t think a Vision Board is necessary
So all of my over-eager Type A personalities who love lists, charts, spreadsheets – this is different. This is where you really focusing on your spirit or your soul. Those things don’t come out in words.
- Those often come out in visuals
- Or color
- Or pictures
- It comes out in just kind of a whisper
- What you put on this earth to be able to do?
- What are you supposed to be focused on?
So if you haven’t ever done one before, I’m going to be hosting a live workshop. I’m all excited. I’m working on the location. But if you haven’t ever done one or if you want to re do your last one, then definitely register.
When life knocks you down
So here’s the deal. When you’re starting a business or even when you’ve been in business for a few years, you sit down and write goals. I’ll have six ca-zillion customers and everyone’s going to love my service.
I’ve done goal setting for years now with my business. And I can kinda predict how many clients I’m going to have and my revenue. So I’m not even saying you’re doing it from an unrealistic place.
However, life happens.
That was me with my sinus cold. It’s nothing that required me to go to the hospital. I’m grateful. But it knocked me on my feet. We had a big snowstorm. My daughter’s home from school. And I’m stuck here with this sinus cold. I can’t sleep through the night because I can’t breathe properly. I’m on a whole bunch of meds, so I’m either too tired or I’m too miserable to do anything.
This is why you need the vision board. Because, the minute that you start to recover, you need to get things done. But you have no idea where to start.
When you have a vision board in front of you with pictures that inspire you, you can get refocused.
My mini board
I have a card that I got for a couple of birthdays ago. It’s a spiritual card and it says
- You are blessed
- You are protected
- You are loved
That’s part of my vision board. Because when I wake up and not in the greatest of mood, I turn and look directly at the card. It anchors me and reminds me why I do what I do.
This morning I used it. My daughter woke me up. I couldn’t talk. Could barely breathe and think. I turned around and looked at the card. It immediately got me back into the space where I could make decisions and stay focused. That’s the power of a vision board.
Yes it’s woo-woo. And yes it works
It’s very “woo woo”. I’m not even trying to lie about it. If you are attending a top tier business school, they may not be talking about these types of things.
Because it seems crazy. But it works.
If you understand your why and have visuals to remind you, it’s easier to see what is actually happened or not happened. And if it doesn’t happen, you can refocus or change your goal. Rather than waiting for “someday”.
Why I recommend you start with a vision board before a business plan
When you are in the planning stages of starting a business, I don’t recommend you form your business to “make money”. Yes, you need money to survive in our current system. But when you hit roadblocks, you need more.
- When you hit the sinus infection that takes you out for a couple of days
- When you hit the bill collectors
- When you hit the “this is hard”
All of the spreadsheets and sales projections in the world ain’t going to help you. The only thing that helps you, to be frank, is your why. Why do you do what it is that you do?
There are so much craziness going on right now. And honestly, I do believe we can change what’s happening. Each and every single individual can change if they focus on their why. And their Why is connected to the greater good.
There is no doubt that we can change this whole thing around. The energy will shift and allow people to do what they are called here to do.
Much love my friends.
