Mission Versus Vision as an Equine Inspired Entrepreneur

Last week we looked at the common mistake of people trying to market what they do instead of what people want. I certainly used to do that. I thought coaching with horses was the greatest discovery ever made and could help anyone and everyone that experienced it! (I still do actually) However, I soon learned that if you’re talking to everyone, NO ONE IS LISTENING. 

In Part One of this series, “Market versus Niche” I have the example of two horse trainers. 

The first example with the generic horse trainer and a barrel racer is a perfect illustration of the horse trainer trying to sell what he does to anyone who will buy. The barrel racer is not interested because she does not hear a solution to her problem (shave 5 seconds off her next race). And the generic trainer didn’t bother to ask her anything about herself or her horse. His focus was to try to convince her that he was a great trainer. (This approach is what makes ‘selling’ feel icky!)

The second example is a trainer speaking a very specific language that the barrel racier is already listening for. She specifically hears the words, “I teach barrel racers and their horses, how to beat their own records…” what comes after that is secondary. At this point in the conversation, the trainer has the barrel racer’s undivided attention. This trainer is not ‘selling’ herself or even ‘horse training’. She is offering a specific solution to a problem that someone wants to solve.

Think about the people that you personally want to serve. Once you have identified your perfect clientele you need to find out what it is that they want or need to have solved and are willing to invest in the solution with you. 

How do you know if you’ve identified the right ideal client? I have several steps in a process that I take clients through, but I want you to consider one fundamental criterion for making a commitment to your ideal client that will sustain you through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. Know your Vision. 

Vision versus Mission

In the most basic terms…

• Your Vision is the super goal, possibly one you may never witness or experience in your lifetime. Like achieving actual World Peace. Think of that as a perfect pie. 
• Your Mission is your contribution to the pie. What is your sliver of a slice that you can commit to achieving that will add to the completion of the whole pie?

Where do you most want to make a difference in your community, industry, or the world?  What do you see that isn’t working, may even be harming other humans or horses? What commitment are you willing to make to change the status quo?

Your commitment is your Mission! Your Mission consists of a series of measurable goals that move you toward the completion of your Mission.

For example: “End World Hunger” is too broad and daunting as a mission. But it’s an excellent Vision for the Mission to feed 100 homeless children a month in your community. That’s a specific mission. You can measure your results and adjust your actions according to the results you achieve. 

My broad Vision is to see equine-inspired personal and professional transformation become as popular as yoga and Starbucks! My Mission, the contribution to that Vision, is to personally talk to, inspire, and support 1000 practitioners within 5 years. To reach 1000 practitioners within 5 years I need to personally talk to, inspire, and support 20 practitioners per month in helping them build a professional practice so they can reach more clients. This contributes to the popularity of equine-inspired learning!

At the end of every month, I can measure whether or not I achieved the goal of personally talking to 20 new people and what the outcomes were of each conversation. 

I don’t need every conversation to lead to a new client to be impactful. A certain percentage will go on to work with me, which helps me to feed my own horses, reach more people, and fulfill my mission. 

The Mission has a measured result. The Vision is the broader implications. 

Think of your perfect world. Write out a statement that describes that perfect world. 

Here’s an example of what one client shared with me:

All the people are happy. When there's a disagreement, people agree to disagree. There is no quarreling or drama. Love for life & being supportive of one another is held as the most valuable to be had. There is music, dancing, shared stories, great food, and a shared sense of well-being throughout the communities/ homes/ year. People are their authentic selves.

Something that is clearly important to her is ‘no quarreling or drama’ and people agree to disagree. That’s a Vision of an element of her perfect world. The work she chooses to do with horses today is to teach children communication and social problem-solving skills. 

If she has a Mission to work with 500 children per year for the next 10 years the ripple effect of her efforts will have a significant impact toward her perfect World Vision. 

Her first step is to design her program to serve 10 children at a time. Four programs per month will achieve the goal of serving 500 children a year. If she doesn’t have the capacity to serve that many at this time she starts with what she can do today and re-adjusts until she can maximize her programs based on her present capacity, and then plan for the future growth necessary to eventually achieve the goal of her Mission. She may eventually train other facilitators from around the country to implement her program, which contributes to her Mission of reaching 500 children per year. 

With the Vision of expanding space exploration in order to understand our Galaxy and our Universe, NASA set a Mission to land a man on the Moon, there were multiple goals or milestones to accomplish, there with trips into outer space to test leaving our atmosphere, navigating zero gravity with flights around the Earth, and then plotting the course and technology necessary to actually land on the Moon.

What's your 'moonshot'? Your Vision and your Mission need to stretch you into becoming the person who makes a stand for and a commitment to improving the world in some small way. 

The more important it is to you, the more it will focus and sustain your actions and future success!

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A Quote to Lick n’ Chew on… 

That’s one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind!

~Neil Armstrong, the first person to step foot on the Moon

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To Your Horse & Soul Success,

~author of, “The Business of Coaching with Horses. How to Reach More Clients, Feed Your Horses, and Change the World!”

My mission is to empower and educate equine-inspired practitioners in the art of profitable program design and marketing. My dream-come-true is to see equine-assisted personal and professional development be recognized and celebrated for the unique transformational modality that it is, and to become as popular as yoga and Starbucks