Our Mission: How a Mission Statement Drives Your Lighting Business

This is the second post in our series on the building blocks of a successful lighting business. Start with the first, Our Purpose.

If purpose is your business's "why," mission is its "how." Purpose sets your direction and guides your biggest decisions, but it's never finished. That's why defining your purpose is only the first step. Next comes your mission.

Mission is how you measure progress toward your purpose.

Think of purpose as a compass heading, such as west. You can travel west forever and never arrive. What measures your success is the pace you keep. You can head west at 1 mph or 1,000 mph, and your business can move toward its purpose slowly or quickly.

Your mission is how you measure that pace. Say your purpose is "We will dazzle our clients with outstanding lighting designs." That gives you plenty of room, but it also starts an honest conversation about how you're doing. Dazzling two clients in a year still moves you toward your purpose, but your business won't last long at that rate.

A good mission should stretch you. This is where a BHAG, or Big Hairy Audacious Goal, comes in: a goal you can reach, but only by working harder and smarter. It might be a revenue target ("This year we'll reach $1 million in sales") or a volume target ("This year we'll complete 300 installations"). The right one depends on your company.

With your mission set, you can plan the steps to get there. You may need to hire technicians, add a truck, launch a marketing plan or build recurring revenue with maintenance agreements. Pick three or four concrete actions and you're on your way.

There will be bumps along the way. But with clear goals and a clear direction, your business will accomplish more.

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About the author: Damien Sanchez is co-founder and COO of Sterling Lighting and an experienced lighting designer, trained under Patrick Harders, LC, since 2006. He's also an entrepreneur who owns a service-based business.

Originally published in the Sterling Lighting newsletter.