Visionary Mindset

How to set a vision and a tone for yourself.

By adonis Richards

I’ve learned a lot in my entrepreneurial journey this past year. It’s allowed me to get a better grasp of being a visionary with my business and its purpose. 

As someone who is big on impact and seeing the bigger picture, I’ve always been a visionary. Recently I’ve learned to trust that vision more. 

Before I can admit, I was just going through the motions and doing business just to do it. Not necessarily seeing a vision for the future or my business growth

After a while, I felt stagnant in my journey and wasn’t looking forward to sales, or events. A lot of it had to do with distractions, as well as the fact that revenue wasn’t arriving in the capacity that I desired. 

It wasn’t until I started researching others in my field, seeing how other entrepreneurs worked, and applying it to my ideas that I started to craft a vision. 

Also, A few of my recent events gained success and it rekindled the fire in me to want more from my work. 

In that, I started to expand my plans, connect them, and set forth goals for the future that Will take my business to the next level. 

I want to share how I executed said plans.

Heads up, the year is young, and most of these plans are in motion now, I’ll share the results of these events as time passes. 

Also, I’m not a business guru, I’m a learning entrepreneur who is beginning to understand what impact their business can make if I plan out and execute more.

 I’m merely here to give out some tips I’ve learned to help someone else apply them to theirs.

1. See yourself in success

Part of being a visionary is seeing success. Close your eyes. See yourself in whatever success you’re manifesting. 

Who’s there? 

What’s happening? 

What’s the stage?

 What are you making? 

What are you selling?

For me. One of my best friends advised me to envision myself on a big stage performing in front of many people. (I’m a poet).  I haven’t reached that stage just yet. But I know a few of them I’m planning to reach. I sit down every day and envision each performance. 

I also sit down and envision creating a space for others to perform. To create. I envision workshops I facilitate. Outside of poetry, I’m a freelance writer. Currently, I see myself getting up, making a cup of tea, sitting on my patio with a couple of plants, opening my laptop, and writing for my clients for the day for a few hours. Then chilling and work on other projects for the day that I want to do. Such as my books, events, merch, and other media. 

When you visualize it in my eyes, it becomes easier to execute it because you start to manifest what you want. You can see yourself in the position. Now that you’ve seen it, it’s time to plan it out. 

1. Make timetable-like plans

Make plans based on your vision. Plan, pre-plan, plan big, plan small. Create plans centered around your business and vision. Make your plans in a timetable. As yourself what are your long time plans and goals? What small goals can you accomplish to get to them? Are they realistic? Ask these questions optimistically as sometimes plans can come across as daunting tasks. 

However, plan them optimistically, you can create a marker and a sense of accountability to reach them.

For example. One of my goals is to post a newsletter weekly this year. That means 52 newsletters. 

A part of that goal is to have 5-6 figure viewers in the newsletter by the end of the year,

And to have 5-6 figure funding for said newsletter. 

Those are my long-term goals.

What are the short-term goals in between?

Get grant funding for writers.

Increase viewership each month. 

Start with 100 more viewers and subscribers,

Then 200. 

I do that by setting a bar weekly, 

Then monthly. 

Then by monthly. 

Then quarterly.

Then I set plans for how to get viewership up. 

And break it down the same way I just broke it down. 

All the wall being optimistic about the goals so that if I fall short I don’t get discouraged. I just find new ways to gain more viewership. I found new ways to advertise and took the time to continue the marathon set by my long-term goals.

Long-term goals are the destination. Short-term goals are the journey. And they are worth every bit of enjoyment as the long-term goals.

1. Have a great team of visionaries and executioners 

I’m surrounded by great friends, business partners, mentors, and consumers who want to see my business grow. 

Right now I have a small team of three. Often we meet, brainstorm, reflect, and bring ideas to the table to create the best possible experience for the business.

Outside of that, I have a very great best friend who I create with often. We bounce ideas off each other, create with each other, and give each other advice often.

Outside of that, I have several mentors who have a vision for my business that I seek counsel from often. 

Lastly, I listen to consumers who leave references and testimonies about their experiences. It’s important to hear how your consumers experience your products. 

Each of these references give different perspectives that allow me to understand council from prospects that want the best out of my business. 

1. Have mentors

I have about 5 mentors at this time. Each of them helps me in various aspects of my business and where I’m planning for my business.

I suggest you find a mentor who is in your field

Find a business mentor.

Find two or three more that you can reach out to to seek counsel. 

As I said in the last segment. There’s no limit to how many people you seek counsel from. The important thing is to make sure you discern what’s valuable and what’s not. My mentors are much older than me and have orchestrated business in some form or fashion. And they all give me sound advice as they wish for my betterment. 

1. Research

Do your research

Do Your Research

Do Your research.

Learn some new things, pick up a course. Read a book on your business. Read a book on business. Find people in your field and ask them questions. Follow them on social media. 

Research everything. 

For me, A part of my business is poetry. I follow a bunch of poets, and poetry spaces and talk to them frequently. I ask questions, I show support, I research their venues and what they do at said venues. Research is pivotal to your success. Learn as much as you can, soak it up. 

1. Execute

The best teacher is your own experience. Execute. Execute in success, execute in failure. If you have a plan, launch it, and figure out the results later. It is better to try and fail than to wonder what could’ve been.

1. Give yourself grace

Learn to be okay when things go wrong. Give yourself grace. There are so many times I’ve been yelled at by my business partners for forgetting something or not asking for help. So many times I fell short or couldn’t meet my own standards. I learned how to give myself grace and say I’m learning. As a person who’s critical of himself, I’ve grown to understand that this is a marathon. Some days will be better than the last. But if you give grace you’ll maneuver through it.