Having a Vision is the First Step to Success

Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:10 PM PST

Having a vision behind the existence of your online business is crucial at a number of levels. What you do is just the method that you decided to follow, but why you do it is what resonates deep with people. The vision behind your business, your medium, is always what comes at first.

But even having that vision is not enough, you see. You may indeed want to change people's lives, want to contribute with whatever that is that you are trying to market and offer to the world, but as long as your vision is shared only by you, your business and your medium will hear the sound of crickets.

Having your vision

The first thing that comes in mind is giving a thought about your audience, the people you'd like sharing your vision with.

And this applies to blogging as well. I've been asked by many new bloggers that wanted to take a dive in the online world, what is the first thing they need to pay attention to. And what I come to tell them is something broader than what your average blogger cares about. Most bloggers would think in terms of technicalities, be that in site structure, design, SEO, copywriting, e-marketing and so on. The list stretches infinitely and soon the new blogger is preoccupied with all the wrong stuff. Granted, without going in-depth as to cover these questions you are never to break ground in the online world.

But what many people don't understand is that it's not about how you do it and what you do. At the very start you must be sure why you do it.

Here is a practical example as to avoid the vague rhetoric. When I started Lifestyle Updated I cared about everything else that you may come to think of in terms of technicalities. I also thought about the way in which I was to present things. Whether the content would be in text, video, audio; whether I will write a book to give to the readers, a magazine even; whether the content would be user generated or not; how the site structure in terms of user experience would look like.

But all of these things were mere ways to present my vision. The thing I paid the most attention to was the vision itself. Why I was doing it, what I hoped to achieve, what I believed in.

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. ~ Simon Sinek

And when you share your why with your audience, and find the audience that shares the same belief, then you start thinking of the means, the ways in which to deliver your vision. I started Lifestyle Updated with a vision that every person can tailor his or her lifestyle according to their taste; that every person can transcend in terms of capacity for something, and above everything else improve. That was my vision. The way I shared it with the audience is secondary. Important sure, on a whole different level, but only after having the vision clearly defined.

Even this blog represents a vision. The way the content is made, how it is delivered, what it teaches in terms of practical knowledge… It all falls secondary before the vision Daniel has that is to make people better at blogging, to help them reach their ambition and make their passion a reality. That is the vision.

The tips are the way in which to materialize the vision. Martin Luther King shared the "I have a dream" speech, not the "I have a plan" speech. Remember, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

Sharing your vision

As I mentioned before, having the vision alone won't suffice. You have to make your audience share it too. You see, it's all about making your audience to share the same vision and belief that you have.

Here is an example. I've been member of the SEOmoz community for a while (following them way back though) and I noticed something interesting. You see, SEOmoz does not advocate SEO tips alone or SEO software or something of the like. Their primarily focus goes to envisioning the search marketing as something broader and larger. If you happened to come across Rand Fishkin on the net (the CEO and founder of SEOmoz, and overall a great guy) you will get the feeling that their vision about SEO does not match with only SEO advice, or making SEO software. You get the feeling that their vision is to make the most out of search marketing as something way beyond what average SEO's commonly care about. And here is the thing- They make you to share their vision. And once you are captivated with that same vision of a bigger picture in SEO, you care way more about what they do and eventually about what they have to offer.

Not until your audience shares the same vision you have, that they start to follow you more passionately and care deeply about what you do. They also continue advocating your vision, what is now their vision, that is, and share it with more people. It's the vision, that they share, not anything else.

It's like when Apple convinces people of their vision of the world of technology, and people buy the vision first, thus being more likely to buy the products. And maybe it's just some marketing trick after all, but it works.

Here is a video of the talk that Simon Sinek gave on TED delving more into this whole concept, and explaining why people are more likely to follow you, listen to you, buy from you, after they share your vision.

The ways in which you decide to share your vision are secondary when put head to head against the vision of the existence of your business or medium. Another example here is that I'm thinking about publishing an online magazine that will present the content from my site in a different light. And that is a great way to share my vision, but the vision itself, and why I think people should share it is way more important.

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

Slavko Desik is editor at Lifestyle Updated, believing in a vision that we can all enjoy the lifestyle that we dream of. He also praises internet marketing for the power it has in sharing your vision with the world.