Entrepreneur Coaching: Defining Business Purpose

Module 1: Defining Business Purpose, Vision, and Strategy

Objective: Help participants explore their personal and business purpose, create a strategic vision for the next 5 years, and start aligning purpose with actionable strategies.

Content

Section 1: Purpose Discovery

Objective: Help participants deeply explore their personal and business purpose, aligning their values with the company vision.

Welcome to the first session of our coaching program, where we’ll start with one of the most important aspects of your business: defining its purpose. This program is designed to help you gain clarity on why your business exists, align your personal values with your company vision, and develop strategies for growth and efficiency.

Many business owners struggle with working on their business instead of getting caught up in the day-to-day tasks of working in it. Shifting to a strategic mindset requires a strong sense of purpose and a clear vision. Today, we’ll begin by exploring your personal and business purpose, laying the foundation for everything you’ll do over the coming months.

Exploring Personal and Business Purpose

The purpose of your business is more than just making money. It’s about what drives you, what impact you want to have, and how your business reflects your values. A business with a well-defined purpose aligns all of its activities-operations, marketing, team building-around that core mission, leading to greater long-term success.

For many entrepreneurs, the lines between personal and business purpose blur. The business often becomes an extension of your personal values, beliefs, and vision. When you deeply explore and understand that purpose, you can make better decisions, stay motivated during challenging times, and align your team around shared goals.

In this session, we’ll focus on three critical areas:

  1. Personal Why: We’ll start by identifying why you started your business. This is often tied to your core motivations and personal values. Understanding this “why” helps you stay connected to your business's purpose even during tough times.

  2. Business Purpose: From your personal “why,” we’ll move to defining your business purpose. This involves articulating the reason your company exists in the market beyond just offering products or services. A clear business purpose aligns your team and makes your business more meaningful to customers.

  3. Aligning Purpose with Strategy: Once your purpose is clear, we’ll begin connecting it to actionable business strategies. We’ll define how your business purpose will drive your decisions, help you prioritize, and shape the processes and systems you build.

Personal Purpose Exploration

Exercise 1: "Why" Exploration:

  • Goal: Discover why participants started their business and what drives them.
  • Instructions:
    • Ask participants to reflect on and write down their answers.
    • Dive deeper using the "5 Whys" method: for each answer, ask "why" again until they reach the core motivation.
  • Discussion: Share responses within the group and allow 2-3 participants to elaborate.

To start, you’ll explore your personal purpose by reflecting on your journey as an entrepreneur.

Why did you start this business?

What problem did you want to solve?

How does your business help you fulfill your personal goals?

Reflection Questions:

  • Why did I start my business in the first place? What motivated me?
  • What personal values drive my decisions as a business owner?
  • What impact do I want to have on my customers, industry, or community?
  • How does my business allow me to live my values?

Once you have clarity on your personal purpose, it becomes much easier to align your business’s mission and goals with that foundation.

Section 2: Creating a Strategic Vision for the Next 5 Years

Objective: Define a long-term vision and clear goals for the business.

Business Purpose Definition

Exercise 2: Personal Values to Business

  • Goal: Translate personal values into a business mission.
  • Instructions: Guide participants to list their top 3 personal values and align them with their business practices. For each value, ask how they integrate it into their business. Example: If a personal value is integrity, how is it reflected in customer relationships?
  • Outcome: A clear, personally meaningful business purpose that serves as the north star for future strategy.

Next, we’ll move from personal reflection to defining the business purpose. A strong business purpose goes beyond just making money-it’s about creating value for your customers and making an impact in your industry. This purpose will guide your strategies, decisions, and how you differentiate from competitors.

Reflection Questions:

  • What does my business stand for?
  • How does my business improve my customers’ lives or solve a specific problem?
  • What makes my business unique in the marketplace?
  • How can I align my team and customers with this purpose?

By articulating a strong business purpose, you’ll be able to make more strategic decisions, prioritize effectively, and build a brand that resonates deeply with your customers.

Creating Compelling Vision

Exercise 3: Business Vision for the Future

  • Goal: Envision the business’s future in 5 years.
  • Activity: Visualize and describe where the business should be (revenue, size, impact, customer base).
  • Outcome: Written vision statement outlining where participants want their business to be.

Have participants close their eyes and visualize their business in 5 years. What does it look like? Who are the customers? What’s the revenue? How big is the team? - Write down specific goals for that vision (e.g., "I want to have $1M in annual revenue and a team of 10"). - Discuss how these goals reflect their purpose.

Discussion: Goal-Setting

  • Objective: Help participants understand key business goals based on their vision.
  • Ideas for inspiration
    • Build to Sell: Growing the business for future sale. (Size/Price)
    • Grow and Expand: Scaling to new markets and revenue streams. (Go public, investments, merger)
    • Stay Small and Profitable: Maintaining a lean operation.
    • Innovation Leader: Position the business as a leader in innovation or a pioneer in its field by constantly evolving products or services.
    • Niche Market Dominator: Focus on becoming the go-to solution for a very specific customer segment or industry.
    • Sustainable Business Model: Prioritize sustainability, becoming a company known for ethical practices and eco-friendly operations.
    • Legacy Business: Build a business that is intended to be passed down to future generations.
    • Lifestyle Business: Create a business that provides financial stability while allowing for a flexible, enjoyable lifestyle.
  • Outcome: Clear, goal-driven picture of the business direction.

Section 3: Aligning Purpose & Vision with Strategy

Objective: Connect purpose and vision to actionable business strategies.

Aligning Purpose with Strategy

Once the purpose is defined, we’ll take the first steps in connecting it to your business strategy. A clear purpose influences everything-from the products you offer to the way you engage with customers, manage finances, and build a team. Purpose-driven businesses often have stronger cultures and are more adaptable in changing markets.

Exercise 4: Come up with strategic priorities

  • Goal: Turn purpose and vision into strategic priorities.
  • Activity: Reflect on how purpose influences growth, product development, and customer service. Identify key strategies aligned with the business purpose and vision. Write down practical strategies for the next 12 months that connect to long-term goals.
  • Outcome: A draft of a strategy plan that aligns with their purpose and supports their 5-year vision.

We’ll begin by exploring how your purpose can help guide your strategic priorities:

  • How does your purpose inform your decisions about growth, customer service, or product development?
  • What key strategies can help you stay aligned with your purpose?
  • What processes or systems will you need to scale effectively?
  • How can you ensure customer relationships align with your purpose?
  • How will your purpose help you build processes and systems that scale your business effectively?
  • Discuss how the vision reflect their personal and business purpose.

Exercise 5: Writing down a strategy

Strategic Planning - Key Milestones:

  • Goal: Break down the vision into key actionable steps (milestones).
  • Instructions:
    • Guide participants to identify 3-5 major milestones they need to hit to achieve their 5-year vision (e.g., launch a new product, expand to a new market, hire a key team member).
    • For each milestone, outline a high-level strategy on how to get there.
  • Outcome: Participants will have a draft of their business vision and the strategic milestones required to achieve it.

Conclusion

As we wrap up this first session, it’s important to reflect on the progress you’ve made in understanding your personal and business purpose, crafting a strategic vision, and beginning to align that vision with actionable strategies. The work you’ve done today forms the foundation for future growth, and the clarity you’ve gained will guide you through the next stages of your business journey.

Your purpose and vision are tools to help you make strategic decisions, lead your team, and build a business that aligns with your values and goals. In the coming weeks, we’ll take these foundational elements and turn them into a fully realized business strategy.

Final Discussion

Take a moment to think about the following:

  • How has today’s session shifted the way you think about your business?
  • What surprised you about the process of defining your personal purpose?
  • How will you begin incorporating this clarity into your day-to-day operations?

In our next session we will start working towards immediate benefits by focusing on profit first and managing cash flow.

Homework

  1. Refine Your Vision and Purpose:

    • Review the notes you’ve taken during the session and spend time refining both your personal and business purpose. Ensure they are concise and actionable.

  2. Draft a 5-Year Vision:

    • Using the vision exercise from today, write out a detailed vision of where your business will be in 5 years. Include specifics such as revenue, team size, market reach, and personal goals.

  3. Start Identifying Key Strategies:

    • Begin outlining 3-5 key strategies that will support your business vision. Think about how you will align your purpose with your strategies in growth, customer service, product development, and more.

Worksheets and Checklists

Personal Purpose Worksheet

  • What’s your “why”? Reflect on the core reasons for starting your business.
  • What are your personal values? List 3 values that influence how you run your business.
  • How does your business allow you to live your values?

What’s your “Why”?

Reflect on the core reasons for starting your business.

  • Why did you choose this industry or type of business?
  • What problem are you solving with your business?

Answer:

What are Your Personal Values?

List 3 values that influence how you run your business. For example: Integrity, Creativity, Customer-Centricity

  1. Value 1:
  2. Value 2:
  3. Value 3:

How Does Your Business Allow You to Live Your Values?

Explain how your business practices reflect your personal values. For example, how does your value of integrity influence your customer relationships?

Answer:

Business Vision Worksheet

  • What does your business look like in 5 years? Write a detailed vision.
  • What are the key goals? (e.g., revenue, team size, market reach)
  • What type of business do you want to build? (e.g., Build to Sell, Grow and Expand, Stay Small and Profitable)
  • What Does Your Business Look Like in 5 Years? Write a detailed description of your business in 5 years. Include information such as revenue, team size, market presence, and customer base.

Answer:

  • What are the Key Goals? List measurable goals related to revenue, market reach, or team size that you want to achieve in the next 5 years.
  1. Revenue Goal:
  2. Team Size Goal:
  3. Market Reach Goal:
  • What Type of Business Do You Want to Build? Choose and describe your business trajectory:
  • Build to Sell
  • Grow and Expand
  • Stay Small and Profitable
  • Innovation Leader
  • Niche Market Dominator

Answer:

Strategic Priority Checklist

  • List your 3-5 strategic priorities for the next 12 months.
  • Action Plan: Break down each priority into actionable steps.
  • Timeline: Set deadlines for each action.

  • 1. List Your 3-5 Strategic Priorities for the Next 12 Months

    Priority 1:

    ☐ ________________________________________________________________________

    Priority 2:

    ☐ ________________________________________________________________________

    Priority 3:

    ☐ ________________________________________________________________________

    Priority 4:

    ☐ ________________________________________________________________________

    Priority 5:

    ☐ ________________________________________________________________________

  • 2. Action Plan: Break Down Each Priority into Actionable Steps

Priority 1:

  • Step 1: ☐ ______________________________________________________________
  • Step 2: ☐ ______________________________________________________________
  • Step 3: ☐ ______________________________________________________________

Priority 2:

  • Step 1: ☐ ______________________________________________________________
  • Step 2: ☐ ______________________________________________________________
  • Step 3: ☐ ______________________________________________________________

Priority 3:

  • Step 1: ☐ ______________________________________________________________
  • Step 2: ☐ ______________________________________________________________
  • Step 3: ☐ ______________________________________________________________
  • 3. Timeline: Set Deadlines for Each Action

Priority 1:

  • Deadline: _______________________________________________________________

Priority 2:

  • Deadline: _______________________________________________________________

Priority 3:

  • Deadline: _______________________________________________________________

Reading Material and Resources

  • Start with Why Book by Simon Sinek Delve deeper into the importance of finding your “why” and how it drives your business.
  • Start With Why Tead Talk by Simon Sinek A 20-minute talk on why successful businesses focus on their “why” before their “what” and “how.”
  • The Smart Passive Income Podcast by Pat Flynn - Focused on building scalable, purpose-driven businesses.
  • How I Built This by NPR - Interviews with founders sharing their journey of growth and strategy.
  • The One Page Business Plan by Jim Horan: Practical steps for crafting concise mission, vision, and strategy.
  • Harvard Business Review - Crafting a Purpose-Driven Strategy: Insightful strategies for aligning purpose with business growth.
  • Mindtools - Mission, Vision, and Strategy: The Foundation of Your Plan: Practical steps to create your business mission and vision.
  • Simon Sinek's “Why” Discovery Course: Helps entrepreneurs articulate their personal and business purpose.
  • The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren: A spiritual approach to finding meaning and purpose in your personal and professional life.
  • Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: A heavier book with an exploration of how individuals find purpose even in the most challenging situations.
  • Harvard Business Review - Creating a Purpose-Driven Life: Practical advice on identifying and living with purpose.

Module 1 - Completion Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure you've completed all activities and homework for Module 1: Defining Business Purpose, Vision, and Strategy. Check off each item as you complete it.

During the Session

  1. Personal Purpose Exploration:

    • ☐ Exercise 1: "Why" Exploration
    • ☐ Reflected on why you started your business.
    • ☐ Used the "5 Whys" method to delve into core motivations.
    • ☐ Wrote down your personal "why" statement.
    • ☐ Shared your insights during the group discussion (optional).

  2. Business Purpose Definition:

    • ☐ Exercise 2: Personal Values to Business
    • ☐ Listed your top 3 personal values.
    • ☐ Aligned each value with your business practices.
    • ☐ Articulated a clear business purpose statement.

  3. Creating a Strategic Vision for the Next 5 Years:

    • ☐ Exercise 3: Business Vision for the Future
    • ☐ Visualized your business in 5 years.
    • ☐ Described specifics: revenue, team size, impact, customer base.
    • ☐ Wrote down your detailed vision statement.
    • ☐ Discussion: Goal-Setting
    • ☐ Selected the type of business you aim to build (e.g., Build to Sell, Grow and Expand, Stay Small and Profitable, etc.).
    • ☐ Clarified your business direction based on your vision.

  4. Aligning Purpose with Strategy:

    • ☐ Exercise 4: Strategic Priorities
    • ☐ Reflected on how your purpose influences key business decisions.
    • ☐ Identified 3-5 strategic priorities aligned with your purpose and vision.
    • ☐ Wrote down practical strategies for the next 12 months.
    • ☐ Exercise 5: Writing Down a Strategy
    • ☐ Broke down your 5-year vision into key actionable milestones.
    • ☐ Outlined high-level strategies for achieving each milestone.

After the Session (Homework)

  1. Refine Your Vision and Purpose:

    • ☐ Reviewed notes from the session.
    • ☐ Refined your personal purpose statement to be concise and actionable.
    • ☐ Refined your business purpose statement to align with your personal values.

  2. Draft a 5-Year Vision:

    • ☐ Wrote a detailed description of your business in 5 years.
    • ☐ Included specifics such as revenue goals, team size, market reach, and personal aspirations.

  3. Start Identifying Key Strategies:

    • ☐ Outlined 3-5 key strategies to support your business vision.
    • ☐ Ensured each strategy aligns with your purpose in areas like growth, customer service, and product development.

  4. Complete Worksheets:

    • ☐ Personal Purpose Worksheet
    • ☐ Answered all questions thoroughly.
    • ☐ Business Vision Worksheet
    • ☐ Detailed your 5-year business vision and key goals.
    • ☐ Strategic Priority Checklist
    • ☐ Listed your top 3-5 strategic priorities.
    • ☐ Broke down each priority into actionable steps.
    • ☐ Set deadlines for each action.

Resource Engagement

  1. Explore at Least One Resource:

    • ☐ Selected and engaged with at least one resource from the list:
    • ☐ Books: - ☐ Start with Why by Simon Sinek - ☐ The One Page Business Plan by Jim Horan - ☐ The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren - ☐ Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
    • ☐ Videos/Talks: - ☐ Start With Why TED Talk by Simon Sinek
    • ☐ Podcasts: - ☐ The Smart Passive Income Podcast by Pat Flynn - ☐ How I Built This by NPR
    • ☐ Articles: - ☐ Harvard Business Review - Crafting a Purpose-Driven Strategy - ☐ Mindtools - Mission, Vision, and Strategy: The Foundation of Your Plan - ☐ Harvard Business Review - Creating a Purpose-Driven Life
    • ☐ Online Courses: - ☐ Simon Sinek's “Why” Discovery Course

  2. Reflect on the Resource:

    • ☐ Noted key takeaways from the resource.
    • ☐ Considered how to apply insights to your business.
    • ☐ Prepared any questions or topics for further discussion.

Final Preparation

  1. Organize Notes and Materials:

    • ☐ Compiled all worksheets and notes from the session.
    • ☐ Ensured all documents are accessible for future reference.

  2. Prepare for Next Session:

    • ☐ Reviewed the upcoming topic: Profit First and Managing Cash Flow.
    • ☐ Jotted down any questions or areas of concern to address.
    • ☐ Set personal goals for what you want to achieve in the next session.

By completing this checklist, you've fully engaged with Module 1 and laid a solid foundation for your business growth journey. Your commitment to this process is a significant step toward achieving your 5-year vision and aligning your business with your personal purpose.

Remember: The insights and plans you've developed are only as effective as the actions you take. Keep this momentum going as we move into the next module, where we'll focus on immediate benefits by managing cash flow and ensuring profitability.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need additional support before our next session. Looking forward to our continued work together!