Building a Vision Board for Your Business

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board is a collection of found images, words, quotes, and photos that you put together to represent your goals and dreams. This collage becomes a highly personal and graphical showcase of your aspirations for the future. Typically a vision board takes the form of a poster and can be made on paper or digitally. The process of creation is just as important as the end result.

For many entrepreneurs and small business owners, vision boards are a helpful tool in providing inspiration, clarity, and focus. Even people with limited artistic skills can create one! There is no right or wrong way to approach making a vision board: it is all about using your creativity to design something meaningful.

Why Every Entrepreneur Should Create One

For many business owners, it is easy to get lost in the day-to-day operational needs of running a business and lose sight of where you are going. While having a written plan of your vision, goals and objectives is useful, it often isn’t very exciting and can be easily forgotten or filed away. A vision board, however, is an upfront and personally inspiring graphic that represents your values and virtues. It’s a way of keeping the big picture in mind for your business.

Whenever you feel lost, or that your business isn’t going according to plan, your vision board helps you find your way and gives you that motivational boost you need.

Vision boards provide so many key benefits! They serve as a visual reminder of your goals, help get your creative juices flowing, promote a positive mindset, and can be an interesting decorative piece on your wall or screen.

How to Make a Vision Board for Your Business

Start planning – it is important to schedule some focused time when you plan to work on your vision board. It doesn’t have to be all in one stretch; instead, a series of intervals might work better for you. What’s important is that you are dedicated to the task at hand. Determine the type and timeline of vision board you want to create. Is it for just a specific period, like the upcoming year? Or will be a timeless piece that will continue to represent things to come? Will you be designing a paper or digital version?
Figure out your business’s “Why” – think about what your business’s core values are and what direction the business is headed. Why does your business exist? What motivated you to start it? Take time to self-reflect on these questions.
Find some inspiration – take some time to look at other examples of vision boards online. You can find many by searching on Google or Pinterest.
Start creating – Jump straight into searching and gathering any imagery that embodies the spirit of your vision board. Explore any themes that start to emerge and plan how you want to lay things out. Cut, copy, paste, edit, type, and draw onto your vision board with those things that resonate with you. Keep in mind that there are no rules, so feel free to be as creative as you like! Are there any graphics or quotes that have special meaning for you? Your vision board should be a collage of various elements. If you are doing a paper version, old magazines provide great material that you can easily cut and paste; if you are doing a digital version, Canva.com is a great tool for assembling digital images.
Display your work – find a medium that will best showcase your vision board. If you’ve created a digital version, this could be on your computer, but you could also print it out. If you have created a physical one, take the time to figure out where in your home, office, or business to best hang it up. Your vision board should be in a place where you regularly see it and can gain its benefits.
Reflect – Regularly take time to take stock of your vision board. Does it still reflect what your business’s goals and dreams are? Do you need to make any changes to it? Do you need to retire the current one and develop a completely new vision board? Vision boards can be designed as a one-off but are often created or updated regularly. Save any past boards to track your progress and see how far you have come in your entrepreneurial journey!