Experience The Unlock Your Impact WORKBOOK for Yourself!

Jan 28
11 min read

First, how it came about

A free PDF workbook was available for readers of the Unlock Your Impact book, to help implement what was described in the book. However, the feedback I received was that it was overwhelming, it wasn't clear where each exercise was going, or how the work would lead to a different way of doing marketing. Ouch! I realized the work needed to be presented in a more manageable way. So here's what I added:

Short video introductions for each chapter to orient you, remind you of the key concepts, and walk you through what you’ll be doing and why
Estimated time to completion for each chapter and a summary of the expected outcome for the chapter
Action step boxes throughout every chapter so you can quickly take outward-facing action
Recap tables that summarize the actions you complete during each section and the ones you carry forward.
Weekly, monthly, and quarterly checklists so you always know what to do

Downloadable tools, including templates, sample emails and structured worksheets, action tables, and ckecklists - 33 downloadable resources in total!
And, one of the biggest game changers, I created and tested powerful AI Prompts

I am completing the layout stage and the workbook will be published in a couple of weeks.

I decided to offer a sample of it so you can get a sense of the experience. If you like what you see here, join me on the Workbook Launch Team for early access and bonuses.

So, let's do this!

Chapter 5: Articulate Your Compelling Vision

Before answering the questions below, briefly review Chapter 5 of the book Unlock Your Impact. Grab your hardcopy, or listen to the audio version.

Audio version of Chapter 5 in the book Unlock Your Impact

Google doc version of Chapter 5 of the book Unlock Your Impact

Watch This Video Introduction

To get an overview of what lies ahead in this chapter—the practical steps you’ll be taking and why they matter—scan the QR code and watch the short video.

To attract your ideal client, your vision and mission must be absolutely clear in your prospect’s mind. In this chapter you will follow four steps to acquire that clarity:

Discover your mission
Discover your vision
Craft mission and vision statements
Test your statements

But first, let’s use the Magnet Meter to assess where you are now.

Estimated time to completion: 2 hours x 3 sittings = 6 hours

What This Will Unlock for You

Your compelling vision is why you started your business. It’s the unshakeable foundation that transforms everything that follows. When you commit to the deep work in Chapter 5 and follow The Self-Discovery Pathway, you'll unlock the vision and mission that have been waiting inside you all along. And here is what happens: people feel it, they lean in and they connect with your clarity. Your purpose resonates with them, and they become naturally drawn to what you're building. This makes all the difference between a business that struggles and one that thrives. Right now, you're standing at that crossroads, so let’s dig in.

“I came closer to expressing the essence of what truly drives me. The mission and vision work helped me clarify my direction.”

—Rikki Quintana, Your Impact Storytelling Guide

“This process made me reflect on the positive and beautiful aspects of my profession and helped me reconnect with the deeper reasons why I do my work. I feel more confident speaking about the value I offer. This work helped me get unstuck in a very meaningful way.”

—Ana Carolina Ceci, Certified Translator of English > Spanish and Licentiate in Institutional Communication

The Self-Discovery Pathway:

Do not rush this work. Spend time alone in a quiet area, away from your desk, with your favorite pen and your workbook. Treat the work as a gift to yourself.

For each question, make sure you capture all the possible answers and explore every aspect of the question. Bring to mind as many of your past clients as you can, noting how you felt and how they felt while working together.

As you write your answers and see certain patterns begin to emerge, you will likely feel a rush of recognition. You might recall comments clients made about your work that you didn’t necessarily appreciate at the time. You may realize “Oh, that’s why I enjoyed that project so much!” or “That’s why I dreaded calls with that client.”

You might want to talk with a few past clients to learn more about their experience. Or you could review the details of your work with past clients on your own, “reliving” those critical moments in their progress and noting the transformations they went through. In either case, select a representative sample of clients and answer the questions with those in mind.

In addition, keep the questions in this workbook chapter in the back of your mind as you continue your daily work. Further answers will emerge as you interact with clients.

Be patient with yourself. This is not an overnight process.

Although later in this chapter I provide a comprehensive AI prompt to assist you in exploring these questions and drafting your Mission and Vision statements, I highly recommend you begin by writing your answers to these questions here. If you decide to use the AI prompt, it will first ask you to share the work you did here as a starting point. AI can then help you deepen your exploration and uncover a whole new layer of thinking you hadn’t even guessed at or expressed before.

As you work through this chapter, think of the mission as the journey, and the vision as the destination.

Discover your Mission

Mission and Vision work hand in hand. We will start with your Mission and derive your Vision from there.

Your work with clients

Who do you help and how do you help them? In other words, what do you say when someone asks you what you do or what your business is?*

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Why do you do this work and what led you to establish a business to do it?*

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Who are the clients you ideally want to work with? Beyond their demographics or their psychographics, consider their worldview, their values, and what they care about.*

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Why do you want to work with them? What is it about them you find exciting and rewarding?*(you may use your answers to the questions in Chapter 3 and add to them.)

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What is the moment in your work with clients that brings you the most fun and fulfillment? What is it about that particular moment that makes it fun and fulfilling?*

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Your impact

What are your clients able to do after they work with you?*

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And what does THAT allow them to do?*

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Why is THAT important to THEM? (Ask this question a few times.)*

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Why is THAT important to YOU? Why do you care so much?*

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What emotions do you feel when you see what your clients can do now because of their work with you?

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You may be tempted to start writing a Mission statement but I encourage you to do the Vision exercise below first.

Action Step:

Use your answers above as inspiration for a post to publicly share your thinking around your mission and what about it is important to you. Post on one aspect of your mission this week and plan subsequent posts to cover other points.

Target completion date:

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Date completed:

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Discover your Vision

You are now starting to get some clarity on your mission. Let’s uncover your vision.

Imagine that you have served everyone in the world who has the problem you address and have resolved all their challenges. There are no resource or time constraints; this is just a thought exercise. Because you have helped everyone, the problem has been eradicated, and the issue no longer exists. What would the world look like?*

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What consequences of the initial problem would no longer exist?*

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What would now be possible for the people involved, for their family, their community, and ultimately for society as a whole?*

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And what would THAT allow?*

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Craft Your Mission and Vision statements

Your goal now is to develop a couple of short sentences or paragraphs for both your Mission and your Vision. First, proceed through Steps 1 through 4 below to draft your Mission statement. Once you have a solid draft, go back to Steps 1 through 4 and complete them for your Vision statement. Or you feel called to develop your Vision statement first and then your Mission statement. Remember that the Mission is your journey, while your Vision is the destination.

Your statements are not likely to come to you fully formed and ready to go. This is an iterative process. I suggest you spread out the five steps described below over at least a few days. Give yourself time, space, and grace as you go through this exercise. And most of all, enjoy it!

Step 1: Review your answers

Start by going through everything you have written so far in the Mission section of this chapter. You may want to use a highlighter to emphasize the words that are most meaningful to you. Or you may prefer compiling your previous answers on your computer, bolding the important phrases. Use whatever process allows your thoughts to flow freely and your mind to make the connections it wants to.

Here, write down the words, phrases, and sentence snippets that resonate the most.

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Step 2: Revisit past testimonials

Capture your clients’ own words about the transformation you enabled for them and what that change has unlocked for them in their life.*

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Step 3: Start your rough draft

Write a few sentences to capture the essence of what you have expressed so far. Don’t worry if it’s too long, too many words, makes no grammatical sense, or doesn’t sound inspiring or ready for public consumption. This is just for you for now. After you write this very rough first draft of your Mission statement, let it sit and go do something else! Pausing and coming back is a very important part of the process.

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Step 4: Pause and rewrite

When you come back to look at what you wrote, you will likely want to revise it. Do that as many times as you feel you need to until you have something that resonates deeply and feels true to you. This is still only for you, so don’t worry about making it sound appealing.

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The process is similar for your Vision.

Step 1: Review your answers

Start by going through everything you have written so far in the Vision section of this chapter. You may want to use a highlighter to emphasize the words that are most meaningful to you. Or you may prefer compiling your previous answers on your computer, bolding the important phrases. Use whatever process allows your thoughts to flow freely and your mind to make the connections it wants to.

Here, write down the words, phrases, and sentence snippets that resonate the most.

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Step 2: Start your rough draft

Write a few sentences to capture the essence of what you have expressed so far. Don’t worry if it’s too long, too many words, makes no grammatical sense, or doesn’t sound inspiring or ready for public consumption. This is just for you for now. After you write this very rough first draft of your Vision statement, let it sit and go do something else! Pausing and coming back is a very important part of the process.

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Step 3: Pause and rewrite

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Step 5: Refine your Mission and Vision statements

Once you’re happy with the ideas, concepts, and feelings you’ve captured, let’s think about how to express them in a way that is clear, concise, and compelling for others. Play with what you have written so far. Shorten the sentences, remove all unnecessary words, try a different syntax, or reorder your sentences to see what works best. Use active verbs where possible. Make sure the Mission and Vision statements are not simply paraphrasing each other.

Remember that you need to do this work iteratively. Work on it, then let it sit. Revisit it a few days later and you will see right away which combinations of words grab you and which don’t.

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Once you have a couple of short sentences for your mission and a couple of short sentences for your vision, you will be ready to test both statements.

Write here the statements that you will test.

Mission:

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Vision:

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Action Step:

Use your answers above as inspiration for a post to publicly share your thinking around your vision and what about it is important to you. Post on one aspect of your vision this week and plan subsequent posts to cover the other points.

Target completion date:

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Date completed:

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AI Prompt for The Self-Discovery Pathway

At this point you may use the AI prompt below to deepen your thinking and make sure your mission and vision statements really reflect your full aspirations and capture everything you need them to.

You’ll find the prompt here: Prompt for Chapter 5 Your Compelling Vision

Whether you have used AI assistance or not, you now have a solid first draft of your Mission and Vision statements.

Now it’s time to test them. The statements you wrote might make perfect sense to you, but may not be clear to others. Or they may simply fall flat when you share them. These statements are key to connecting with your audience. So let’s make sure they do that effectively before deploying them.

Test Your Mission and Vision

Show or say your mission statement to business friends and past clients and get their feedback. They can help you clarify words or expressions, add nuance, or make it more emotional. After you have received feedback, modify your statements as needed.

Share your revised statements in a few small group settings such as networking meetings and observe people’s reactions. Does it seem to make sense to them, or are they frowning and looking puzzled? If they open their eyes wide and start nodding, you

know you’re getting close to compelling statements!

Write your revised statements here:

Mission:

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Vision:

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Remember to come back to your Vision and Mission statements after you’ve completed the work in Chapters 6 and 7, as new insights may well emerge.

Now that you have statements you feel right with, let’s start thinking about where you might use them. Examples include your website home page, your website About Me page, your LinkedIn profile, your email newsletter, a post, an article, a video, your pitch in networking events. If you need ideas or inspiration on where and how to share your Mission and Vision statements, review Chapter 5 of Unlock Your Impact. Ultimately, where you decide to display each of your statements is a personal matter. Do what feels right, and don’t be afraid to revisit your decisions at any time, because what feels right today may evolve as you become more comfortable in your marketing.

Where do you plan to share your vision statement?*

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Where do you plan to share your mission statement?*

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Action Step:

Add your Mission statement to your LinkedIn About section. Add your Mission and Vision statements to your About Me section on your website. Consider writing an article about your Vision and Mission that you can publish on LinkedIn or on your blog,and/ or send as an email newsletter to your subscribers. Craft a short version of your Mission statement you will include when asked what you do.

Target completion date:

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Date completed:

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After you have done the work in this chapter and started sharing your mission and vision, look again at the Magnet Meter question below.

Enter the date here: -----------------------------------------------------------

Mark your answer to the question, along with the date, in the Magnet Meter Chart at the beginning of Section II

Make an entry in your calendar three months, six months, and one year from today to answer this Magnet Meter question again and to review the Post-Implementation Reflection Questions on the next page.

Once you do the work described in this chapter, you will be able to move the Magnet Meter needle up. Your mission will be clear in your prospect’s mind. You will be able to answer this question with “absolutely!”

I would love to have your support as I launch this into the world so entrepreneurs everywhere can finally stop hating marketing and have businesses that give them impact, income and independence. You can join the launch team here.