Make Marketing Suck Less

Claim Your Vision By Finding Your Role Model Of Possibility

When you think about having a mission and vision for your business? Do you think of something like this:

“We interactively communicate scalable alignments in order that we may progressively create multimedia-based potentialities while promoting personal employee growth.”

Y-U-C-K!

When I was in corporate, senior leadership would spend hours and hours developing vision and mission statements just like this. They would roll out their vision in a big company meeting.

It would be proudly displayed on the website.

Where it would quickly be forgotten about, wither and die.

When I started my business, I thought to have a vision was LAME. It meant putting a bunch of gibberish on a paper that you would forget about.

My plan when I started out was to offer a kickass service, make enough money to pay my bills and occasionally go on vacation.

I don’t need no stinkin’ vision.

It turns out I was wrong. I did need a vision. For change-making business, a vision is critical to your impact (and your income).

Because when you don't have a vision, you don't know where you're steering your ship. When you don't know where you're going, it's difficult, if not impossible, to make the impact that you want to make.

I want you to make an impact. I want you to reach as many people as you can with your message so that your people benefit and are changed by your work in the world.

Mostly, I don’t want you to waste time thinking that you don’t need a vision (like I did).

Your vision already exists. It’s lurking in the work you do right now, so let’s get it so you can name it, claim it, and take one tiny step to make it a reality.

Here’s what’s in store for you. on today’s Rebel Rising podcast:

Two biggest reasons that you don’t define your vision and what to do about it

• Why naming and claiming your vision is key to making it happen
• The one question that helps you define your vision quickly
• Why you need to find a role model of possibility
• Discover the next step to take to make your vision a reality (even if you have no clue how you’re going to make it happen)

Tune into the Pod:

Prefer to read? Find the transcript below:

Hey, hey, hey, rebel risers!

You and I are here because we want to make a difference with our businesses.

To make that difference, it is so important for us to create a vision of the business, of the life that we want, and most importantly, to create a vision of the impact that we want to make.

Because when you don't have a vision, you don't know where you're steering your ship. When you don't know where you're going, it's difficult, if not impossible, to make the impact that you want to make.

I know this better than anyone else. During the first six years of my business, I was rudderless. My vision was to make money, pay bills, live, and occasionally go on vacation.

My vision for my business wasn't bigger than that so that is what I did.

I will say I believe that when you first start your business, a good starting vision is survival because you are trying to figure out if your business is viable.

Can you sell that product or service? Can you get paid speaking gigs? Can you get hired to do training and consulting? Surviving is key to making your impact, at first because your business will support you in the difference that you want to make.

While it's a fine place to start, if you're in your business for a few years and you're finding yourself with some success, then it's time to define your vision for thriving and not just survival. And that is exactly what we're going to talk about today on the Rebel Rising podcast.

This is your host, Dr. Michelle Mazur, the CEO of communication rebel and the creator of the 3 Word Rebellion messaging framework.

Let's talk about why we struggle to develop our vision, and if you are finding yourself struggling with that vision, I will give you the one question to ask yourself that will help you define it.

And if you're already on the road to your vision, you see it, and you know what you want, we're going to talk about finding your role, models of possibility to help you make that vision a reality.

Why it’s so hard for us to NAME what we want?

For years I hid behind excuses. I hid behind the excuse that I didn't really know what I wanted for my business. Really, I was hiding from my own fear of saying out loud what I wanted it.

I think there are two big reasons why we don't name what we really, really, really want and we don't tell people what we really, really want.

The biggest reason for me and I believe for others is the question “what if you fail?”

When you say what you want and you're going after this big, bold thing, what if it doesn't happen?

There is a chance that you will fail. There's a chance you might not accomplish it. There's a chance you might get into it and realize, “oh man, this isn't what I wanted at all!”

All of that is okay. In our brains, we have made this connection that if we name the big goal and we fail, we will be humiliated publicly.

One of the best reframes I have ever heard for this, “what if I fail” issue, is from Brooke Castillo of the Life Coach School Podcast.

Her reframe is quite simple. If you don't attain the big, bold vision, by the time you said you were going to obtain it, it doesn't mean you're a failure or that you're failing.

It just means it hasn't happened yet.

That vision, that goal is still very obtainable and it is possible and it just hasn't happened yet. So don't view going after your vision as a zero-sum game. That you're either going to fail or you're going to triumph, but look at it as a journey that might take longer to arrive.

Another great reframe for this, “what if I fail” phenomenon, is to realize that people aren't paying that much attention to you.

Yes, they might hear you, your big, bold goal, but they're not breathlessly waiting for you to accomplish it. They're not waiting in the wings to humiliate you if you haven't done it yet.

People are not paying that much attention, and even if your vision changes, your goals change, it's all okay. Just tell your audience, tell your people and take them on that journey.

The second reason I think it's hard for us to name what we want for our businesses is that if you name it out loud, you have to start going after it.

You have to start taking the actions that will allow you to have that goal in the future.

So let's talk about my buddy, Brooke Castillo, again. On her show, she is quite open and honest that she wants to create 100 million dollar coaching business.

That's a big, bold, audacious statement and she talks about it on nearly every show because she's making decisions today that get her to that goal in the future.

When we claim something, when we say, yes, this is what I want, we have to start going after it .

It may freak you out because you might not know what to do first. You don't know how you're going to get there (and we're going to chat about that in just a second).

But the bottom line is, is that you need to say it out loud to other people so you can start making it happen.

Talk about your vision, let people know about it. The reason you want to tell people is because people want to help you achieve your goal. In fact, we love being a part of your goal and helping you get there, so name it, claim it and say it. Then you can start going after it.

The Magic Wand Question

Now, what if you don't know what to say or what to claim?

I believe that most people do know what they want because when I was running around for a year saying I didn't know what I wanted, I actually did. I was just too afraid to name it, claim it, and say it for all of the reasons above.

Because as soon as I would say those things, my brain would go, “Michelle, how are you going to do that? How, how, how, how, how? How do we get from where we are today to that big goal? What are the steps?”

And frankly, I didn't know the steps, so I had to bypass my analytical thinking mind that panics at the first wiff of “big vision, how do we do it when I don't have any idea where to start?”

To help you bypass that analytical brain, grab a pen and a piece of paper.

I'm going to give you one question that really can change everything in your business and help you create that vision. I don't want you to think about this question. I want you to write. Much like I have my clients free write for the 3 Word Rebellion so they can just get all their ideas on, on paper. Same concept here.

Don't think about it. Just write whatever comes into your head and your heart. So here is the question. If I could wave a magic wand and you could be making the difference you most want to make with a business that you love, what does that look like?

I'll ask it one more time. If I could wave a magic wand and you could be making the difference you most want to make with a business that you love, what does that look like?

Now, don't think just write.

When I was asked this question about my business and I didn't think and I just started speaking the answer, I was honestly surprised at what poured out of me.

I wanted to be a CEO/Spokesperson of Communication Rebel where I was the face of the business. I was out talking about the 3 Word Rebellion, speaking, leading workshops, doing podcast interviews, media interviews. That's how I saw myself in the business.

I also saw myself having two or three trained message strategists that could work one on one with clients within the 3 Word Rebellion framework. I saw myself cherry picking the projects that I most wanted to work on. The ones that fired me up! I realized that I would have, yes, those message strategist, but also a publicist and assistant, Chief Operating Officer who could drive the whole ship forward, so I wouldn't have to and I could focus on what I'm really good at. I saw myself writing more books.

Honestly, do I have any of those things now? No. No, I don't. Okay. Except for writing books. I just finished my third book, the 3 Word Rebellion, so the book thing I have handled, but the rest of it I have no idea how I'm going to make it happen. I don't have a clue.

If you don't know how to make it happen, that's okay. You can still claim this big, audacious vision because the first step in making that vision happen is discovering your role model of possibility.

Who is Your Role Model of Possibility?

So who is your role model of possibility?

A role model of possibility to me is a person who has already blazed the path that you want to go down. They are successful, they are making the impact that you want to make, and basically, this person shows you what is possible to create.

You can even get clues on how to get there and when you know what you want to create, when you have that vision, you can find other business owners, entrepreneurs, or speakers who have a business that is somewhat similar to what you want to create and check out what they're doing because you don't have to recreate the wheel here.

Somebody probably does have a business like the one you've outlined in your vision. Go find that person.

If you don't know where to start, talk to your business besties and see who they know and look at who you already admire. For me, my role models of possibility are Mel Robbins and Simon Sinek.

They were the first two people who sprung to mind when I thought about this vision and I quickly realized that I had to eliminate one of them.

As I was looking at their businesses and how they're showing up on social media and what they're creating in the world is that I learned several things.

Number one, each had a message that they wanted to be known for and each had this message and they were visible with it every single day. Whether is Start with Why or the 5-Second Rule, they were always talking about it on social media or their team was always talking about it on social media.

I knew that I needed a message. Luckily I have the 3 Word Rebellion message.

I believe if you want to have that thought leader influence our business, each of you needs to have a message.

The second thing I looked at was there business model.

The business model for Mel Robbins is speaking, writing books and partnering with Audible to do a talk show, which sounds super fun.

Simon Sinek has more of an agency type business. He has multiple speakers who talk on his thought leadership, trainings, a course about finding your why. Of course, he still does keynote speaking and consulting in his business, but mostly he writes. Mostly, he's producing scholarship of some sort. Simon has a much bigger team than Mel because Mel's team is tiny but mighty.

The final part of this was asking myself the question, would I I want their life based on what I was seeing in their businesses and on social media? Is that the life I want to create for myself?

This is where Mel Robbins got eliminated. I would not want her life at all. Her instagram stories are about her getting on multiple planes a week, doing three speaking gigs a week, and I was just like, oh no, I don't want to travel like that. I just don't. I want to be at home with my husband and my cats and yes, traveling some would be fun, but not three speaking events per week and doing a crazy, crazy schedule.

Then when I would look at Simon Sinek, he is pretty private on social media. Yes. He shares his ideas and his thought leadership, but he doesn't share very much of himself except one time he came on and did an instagram live about the new book he was writing, his process, and how he had this big breakthrough. I love the fact that he was able to be private but yet still share his process with his people and I love that he is spending time off line writing.

Yes, please. More of that universe. That's what I want.

So for me, someone like Simon Sinek, the type of business he has, that's my role model of possibility. Your role model of possibility might look like someone completely different, but once you find that person, you've learned from them, look at their business model. Figure out if you want their life.

Find one thing that they are doing right now that you can do one simple action that you can take. Maybe it's showing up consistently on instagram. Maybe it's hiring an assistant, maybe it's writing the book. Maybe it's figuring out what the heck you want to be known for, but find the one thing and start doing it.

I would love to know from you what's the one thing that gets you closer to your vision. You can head over to the Rebel Rising facebook group at drmichellemazur.com/group and let me know.

As a Rebel Riser, I want you to name and claim a vision that is going to work for your life. Define what you really, really want. Find your role models of possibility, and feel free to kick the role models that don't work for you to the curb and embrace the ones that do.

Finally, do the one small thing that moves you closer to that vision.

And before we go, I wanted to let you know that the Rebel Rising podcast is sponsored by my clients, the people who hire me to do one on one brand messaging work and keynote speech development and speaker marketing development are the ones who help fund this show.

So if you're ready to find that message that you want to be known for and that's a part of your vision, then I invite you to have a chat with me to see how I can work with you. To discover that message and launch it into the world, go to DrMichelleMazur.com/chat to book a time with me now.

Remember, your vision is possible. The difference and impact you want to make is possible. It happens when you define your vision and take one tiny action to get on the road to making it happen.