A vision board can be a powerful business growth tool. Many businesses already do some sort of visioning with their strategic planning sessions. A vision board is simply an extension of that process, represented in images. Vision boards are useful in many areas of life, and if you own your own business, you have already created something from your visions. Having a vision board can help you keep your goals in mind on a daily basis. Creating a vision board for your business is simple and can be quite fun.

Here’s how:

Think about and visualize what you want for your business. It can be helpful to review other visioning tools you already have such as your mission statement, core values, strategic plans and goals. If you find that some of those things don’t fit anymore, that’s fine. Your vision board should be a statement about what you want now and what you want your future to look like.

What do you want for your business? What feelings do you want to experience? What is your dream for your business? Keep these ideas in mind as you create the board.

If you have employees or partners, creating a vision board is a great group activity. You can get input from different minds and it helps get everyone focused on the big picture. You can create one big “group” vision board or let everyone create their own. Individual boards that focus on specific goals can all be displayed together to make a great “vision wall” for your company.

Vision Board Tools:

Vision boards (also called treasure maps) can be created using a wide variety of media. Anything can work from the simplest black & white stick figure sketches to elaborate mixed-media works of art. The important thing is that when you look at it, it should evoke those feelings that you want.

Board: You can use paper, a cork board, a white board, poster board or foam board to create your vision board. Anything that you like and can display where you will see it daily will work.

Glue: You can use any sort of suitable adhesive. A glue stick works fine and minimizes messes. And, you can now get glue sticks with removable adhesive so you can change your vision boards without ruining your pictures.

Images: A vision board needs images. Those images can be your own drawings, stickers, images you cut from magazines or print from your computer, photos and more. Try to find and/or create images that speak to you in some way and represent your goals.

Words: Words help to further define your visions. Write or print out words on paper and then cut them out to glue on your board. Choose powerful words that represent what you want. Numbers work, too. If your goal is to make a specific amount of money, put it on your board. If you want to have 500 franchises of your business, put 500 franchises on there.

Objects: You can make your vision board three dimensional by adding objects to it. Jewels, feathers, fabric, buttons, and so on – anything you can glue on there will work. For example, If you have a knitting business, yarn should definitely be on our vision board.

You: You need to be present in your vision board! Use photos of you, a drawing of you, your name, your business logo, and photos of your storefront if you have one (or if you want one).

Once you have all your supplies, keep your “vision” in mind, and play around with representing that vision on the board. What it looks like is a very personal matter and while some vision boards are works of art, that doesn’t necessarily mean they work better than one that is sketched out on a piece of paper using crayons. You can choose to share your vision board or keep it to yourself, so as long as it says to you “this is the business I’m building”, it will work for you.

The more vivid and specific you can make your images, the better. For instance, if your goal is to be a best-selling author, create a book cover with your name on it as the author and include a picture of yourself at a book signing. If you want to be president of a multi-million-dollar company, create a business card for that position. If you want to be on Oprah talking about the meteoric success of your invention, put a picture on there of Oprah interviewing you.

Keep your vision board where you can see it every day, and every day, look at it and “see” what it represents to you, “feel” what it feels like to achieve your goals. Keeping any sort of goal front and center enhances your likelihood of reaching it and the same thing goes for vision boards.
A vision board can be a big boost to your business. It takes your goals and dreams out of your head and turns them into something you can actually see. “See it, believe it, achieve it” is a common catch-phrase in goal-setting. Vision boards help you actually “see it” so that you can believe it and then achieve it. Make one today!