A Simple Mission Makes a Greater Statement

One of the most frequent questions we’re asked at Embryo is, “who wrote your business plan”? Answer: we started one in 2007, haven’t touched it since, and if you saw it now it describes a totally different company than what we are today.

Business plans are kind of like new years resolutions. You make promises. You make deals with yourself. Then you get focused on goals, tasks, time lines, updates, keywords, buzzwords, statuses, tweets, linking, pinging, texting  and move on to action items. After all that, you’ll find yourself stressed, worried and spinning around aimlessly.

My older cousin, who has been a great mentor to me, stressed that business (and life) is about ebb and flow. E.G., you will have ups, and downs, and you must learn to accept the entire process and simply be a part of it. Admittedly, this was (and still is) difficult for me because I want to believe that I’m in control of my own destiny. But when you run your own business, you can put yourself in a position to be successful – but the rest will be left up to a set of circumstances that are most likely out of your immediate control.

When I was an undergrad, we were taught to write business plans for hypothetical start-ups. We would pitch our concepts to the class and the professor and classmates would tear them apart. It was at this point I began to think, “so…what’s the point in re-writing this 20-page document? I was just told that it sucks!”

Enter Russell Simmons’ book “Do You”. This was, and still is, one of the most unlikely “business” books that I return to when I want to get focused on achieving more for my business. Russell, who had no formal business training of any sort, yet because a multi-millionaire through music, fashion and production ventures, simply states that he has no need or use for business plans. It’s simply an extra step that keeps you from actually doing work for your business. When I read about his attitude towards formal business plans, I immediately identified with his school of thought.

At Embryo Creative, we start every project with what’s called a creative brief. It’s a series of basic questions to help projects get off the ground and stay focused. Questions like “What do you want to accomplish”, “Who is your audience”, “What do they think about you now”, “What do you want them to think about you”, “What kind of action do you want to influence”, and so on. I’ve been going through the creative brief process for years now, but it’s just as effective when you apply it to your own business.

Right now, our mission is to develop “world-class creative that works.” Perhaps that mission will change over the years, but for now I can boil down our cause to a simple statement. A “mission statement”, if you will. It’s a lot easier for our clients to digest than a 20-page business plan, and I have a hunch it always will be.

And that’s why a simple mission will always make the greatest statement.