“What if I Don’t Have a Vision?”

I have a confession: When I started my first business—a marketing agency—I didn’t really have a vision. I just knew I had to have my own business. In fact, when people would talk about these big visions they had for their businesses, I couldn’t relate at all. I just wanted more freedom and more flexibility. The rest wasn’t as clear to me at the time and, frankly, I didn’t believe that having some awe-inspiring vision was absolutely necessary for starting a business.

This piece is dedicated to those of you who, like me, crave the freedom that the entrepreneurial lifestyle brings and are not going to wait around until the Visionary Muse strikes. You can still set the foundations and build your business until inspiration for a larger vision comes. Your future self will thank you for providing the freedom that you crave in this moment while preparing your business for greater things to come in their own time.

I started my business without a long-term vision and grew it steadily. I focused on attracting new clients, one at a time. Four months in, I had matched my corporate salary. The following month, I surpassed it by about 30%! I thought I must be doing something right because new clients kept finding me.

Until one day, they didn’t. I wasn’t getting any new leads, and I realized that my workload had reached the point where I didn’t have as much time to devote to bringing in new clients. My existing projects were finishing up, and I didn’t have new clients lined up. I became paralyzed, unsure of what to do and how to move forward. I didn’t know what was next for my business—not having a vision sometimes does this to you.

After two months of stagnation, I realized I had to do something to “fix” my business. I spent an entire week reviewing everything I had done in my business up to that point. I noted what was working, what wasn’t working, and asked myself—for the first time—what sort of business I actually wanted to create.

At first, I couldn’t answer the question. I looked at the entrepreneurs currently in my network, and while some of them had successful, six-figure and multi-six-figure businesses, their business model wasn’t exactly what I felt would be a good fit for me.

I started searching for more entrepreneurs to look up to for inspiration, and I hit my personal goldmine! In quick succession, I was introduced (virtually speaking) to three entrepreneurs who I completely resonated with on many different levels. In fact, they were all interconnected to each other, and I just hadn’t discovered their slice of the internet yet.

The following week, as I consumed content from my brand-new inspirational mentors, it hit me—an entirely new vision for my entrepreneur journey! I received the inspiration to continue building my marketing agency with a very specific mission in mind—helping local and online business owners attract more clients in less time through digital marketing strategies. And it didn’t end there. My marketing agency would become the foundation fueling my new venture: coaching other millennial women in building their own businesses.

In a single instant, I went from not having a clear vision of where I was going, to seeing the next five years of my entrepreneur journey right in front of me. It was a surreal feeling, and if you haven’t experienced it yet, that is completely okay. It will come to you.

Armed with my new vision, I was able to find new clients in need of my marketing services. I was also able to speak with my current clients about the other areas where I could help their businesses, and a few signed on for additional packages with me! I’ve also been able to launch my coaching practice, reaching millennial women who’ve been dreaming into starting a business but don’t quite know how to take the right action.

I’m now the proud host of the Millennial Success Stories podcast, where I interview millennial women who are pursuing their own versions of success on the entrepreneurial path. I have a 1:1 coaching program for women who want to leave their 9-5 in 90 Days (something I accomplished back when I decided I was going to start my business), and I’m opening the second round of my Millennial Women’s Mastermind for women who’ve recently jumped into full-time entrepreneurship!

One year ago, I could not have told you my life would look like this today. Now that I have a vision for my future, I’m able to say what the next stage of my business is going to look like. I may not know exactly when I’m going to get there, but that’s half the fun of entrepreneurship! Sometimes you find yourself in places greater than you ever dared to dream!

And in a strange way, not having a vision in the beginning is totally okay, because even the clearest visions evolve in wholly unexpected ways as you walk the path of entrepreneurship.

Do you currently have a vision for your business? Share your vision below or let us know how you’re going to set the foundations without one!