Mission, Vision & Values

As part of the Start Up Wednesdays session, we were asked to think about what our mission, vision & values were in regards to setting up our own business.

- What do you do?
- What are your aspirations?
- What matters to you?
- How are you going to achieve this?

Examples of successful businesses' missions:

"To make people happy." - Disney

"To organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" - Google

It's important to figure out what your mission is so that when you're pitching your idea having a general conversation about it, you can communicate the purpose of your plans effectively. I've given this some thought in the past before, but since my practice has probably moved on quite a bit since then, I found it really useful to consider it again and try to summarise what I want to do with my work.

Mission Statement:

• To create cute, edgy illustration suitable for a range of products and encourages people to engage with social issues such as gender identity and equality. 

The Vision:

• To have my own shop/range of illustrated products.
• Be able to work freelance and fully support myself financially.
• Create a studio/collective with a shop, cafe & gallery space. 

Values:

• Quality
• Creativity
• Passion
• Challenge
• Fun

I'm really happy that I came away from this session with a vague idea of what I want to do with my practice. This has been on my mind a lot lately as I don't feel I fit within one area of illustration. I'd really love to have my own business based around my practice and still be able to freelance or work on other projects. I was already keen on the idea of setting up a studio with someone and the idea of having a little shop on the side makes it so much more appealing & exciting. What I need to do next is work out the practicalities of setting something like this up, and start to think about how I'd go about branding myself/my practice appropriately.