Why Vision Should Come Before Every Business Goal You Set

Episode published September 19, 2026

Before you set another revenue goal, growth target, or annual plan, ask yourself a more important question: what do I actually want?

We entrepreneurs are really good at setting goals. Revenue goals. Growth goals. Quarterly targets. Bigger numbers. But we’re not always as good at stopping long enough to ask where we’re actually trying to go.

I learned this the hard way, and it took selling my share of a business and waking up with nothing on my calendar to finally slow down enough to ask myself what I wanted, not what everyone else expected of me.

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Episode Timestamps

01:08 Why I jumped into goal setting every year without asking what I wanted first
02:46 Selling my share of the insurance business and entering my Freedom Year
03:42 Facing the question of who I am outside of what I do
04:25 Vision and goals as two different lenses, and why trying to focus on both at once creates blur
05:53 Why personal core values matter more than business core values on a wall
08:05 A client who started five businesses in ten years without knowing her own values
12:24 Getting clear on my why before building this next chapter
18:24 Alignment, radical change, and the decision to sell my share of the business
20:26 Resetting the GPS and the invitation to do this work yourself

Key Takeaways

Vision And Goals Are Not The Same Thing

Vision and goals are like two magnifications in progressive reading glasses. Look down at what’s right in front of you, that’s goals. Look out toward the horizon, that’s vision. Try to focus on both lenses at the same time and you get blurriness and confusion, which is exactly what happens when we jump into business goals without first getting clear on the vision those goals are supposed to support.

Your Personal Core Values Are Your Compass

Business core values matter, but they shouldn’t just be plastered on a conference room wall. Your personal core values are your own compass to what actually matters to you. Mine include financial security, friends, fun, God, and growth. If you haven’t identified yours, you can build a business with great values that are completely out of alignment with the life you actually want to live.

A Business Built Without Values Creates Resentment

A client of mine started five different businesses over ten years, leaping into whatever felt exciting without ever sitting down to identify what mattered to her. She was a mom of three, responsible for the majority of running the household, and her core values were family, faith, balance, and financial security. She carried resentment toward her husband and felt like an imposter in her own business, not because she wasn’t a good business owner, but because the businesses she kept building weren’t aligned with those values or the season of life she was in.

My Freedom Year Forced Me To Ask Who I Am Outside Of What I Do

After twenty eight years at the top of my game in the insurance business, I sold my share and woke up on January 1, 2014 with nothing on my calendar. No client meetings, no staff meetings, no nonprofit meetings. Instead of feeling free right away, I found myself lost, facing the question of who I am outside of what I do. Giving myself the time and space to actually sit with that, instead of jumping into the next thing, is what led me to understand vision and values in the first place.

Alignment Sometimes Requires Radical Change

Doing the work around my ideal workday, my ideal evening, and my ideal weekend showed me that the business model I had built was no longer in alignment with my core values or the life I wanted in that season. I made the decision to sell my share rather than restructure with my business partner, because I didn’t want that relationship to end up out of alignment too. That version of alignment will look different for you than it did for me, but it will ask you to be fully present, engaged, and brave.

Alignment only requires two things: vision and goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my business is out of alignment with what I actually want?

I look at whether the business I’ve built actually supports how I want my life to look and feel, not just the revenue goals I’ve set. If I never sat down to identify my personal core values first, it’s easy to build something that hits numbers but still feels wrong. Doing the vision and values work first is how I found out whether I was in alignment or not.

What should come before I set my next business goal?

I believe vision has to come before goals, because they’re two different things, like the two lenses in progressive reading glasses. Vision is how you want your life to look and feel on the horizon, and goals are what’s right in front of you. I start with vision and values every time now, before I ever set a goal.

How do I figure out my personal core values as a business owner?

I sat down and asked myself what actually matters to me, things like adventure, balance, creativity, faith, or financial security, and identified the ones that were true for me. Mine include financial security, friends, fun, God, and growth. These aren’t things I put on a vision board, they’re how I want to feel in my life, and I use them as a compass for business decisions.

What does it mean to know my why in business?

My why is the overarching reason I’m doing what I’m doing every day, and I get to it by asking what makes me come alive, what legacy I want to leave, and what gifts and talents I want to share with the world. For me that’s financial literacy, being a connector, and helping people move out of financial avoidance. If you dread Monday, I think that’s a sign there’s a disconnect from your why.

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Clarity. Cash Flow. Freedom. Build the business AND life you want.

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