The Power of Purpose: Why You Need a Mission Statement
Don't settle for success. Achieve success *with intention.*
Key Takeaways
A mission statement provides clarity and direction. Without a well-defined mission, even a successful venture can lose focus, become misaligned with long-term goals, and ultimately become unsustainable.
Success on paper is not the same as success with intention. Some endeavors may achieve strong metrics, but a lack of a guiding purpose can lead to their downfall. Meanwhile, other projects thrive due to a clear and actionable mission.
A strong mission statement influences decision-making. Mission statements can be used to guide product development, marketing, and community engagement, ensuring alignment with one’s core purpose.
Setting the Stage
Far too many eager entrepreneurs, ambitious engineers, and enthusiastic authors have seen their sure things stumble out of the gate or, after an initial wave of enthusiasm, quickly prove themselves unfit enough to make it to the finish line.
And I would know—I’ve been that eager entrepreneur. I’ve been that ambitious engineer. Lord knows I’ve been that enthusiastic author.
The question is why? Why do our best knit plans unravel so quickly?
The answer to that why is, in my view, another why: it’s that we’ve not asked ourselves why we’re doing what we’re doing. We’ve not adequately explored the purpose behind our projects, businesses, and brands. We’ve not explored whether what we’re doing—or considering doing—is truly aligned with our values, goals, and vision.
I’ve learned the hard way how costly this mistake can be, but enduring those shortcomings—and spending a great deal of time reflecting on them—has helped me better understand that understanding our why can better inform what choose to pursue, as well as how we do it.
To that point, what’s our purpose? What will we cover in this discussion?
We’re here to sharpen our sense of purpose to achieve success with intention.
To do this, we’ll compare the journey and outcomes of two endeavors, both of which I will argue were successful, but only one of which was successful with intention.
Then, we’ll tease out how each endeavor wound up in either bucket, as well as what we can do to urge our own undertakings toward success with intention by exploring how to develop and embrace a sharpened sense of purpose.
Questions to Consider
As you read, consider the following and answer in the comments.
Have you ever worked on a project that was successful on paper but lacked a clear sense of purpose? How did that affect its long-term sustainability?
What’s one way a well-defined mission statement has (or could have) helped you make better strategic decisions in your own work?
Success with Intention: A Case Study
Let’s examine two sets of metrics. Which one of these ventures was successful with intention, do you think?
Enterprise A
Profitable in third year (44.98% margin)
Customer base in the thousands
10,000s of yearly transactions
Ceased operation after four years
Enterprise B
Profitable in second year (28.7% margin)
Customer base in the hundreds
Hundreds of yearly transactions
Ceased operation after two years
The greater scale and longevity of Enterprise A would make solid arguments in favor of it having been the one to succeed with intention.
But let’s not rely on first impressions. The details matter!
A versus B: The Reveal
Enterprise A: The Writescast Network
From 2016 to 2020, I ran the Writescast Network, “a podcast collective for writers, by writers.” The network featured five unique shows that, over the course of four years, garnered tens of thousands of downloads across 146 episodes.
As the network’s founder and the host of its flagship program, I interviewed dozens of authors, literary agents, and other publishing industry professionals. Doing so positioned me to speak at writing conferences in-person and online, which had a multiplier effect in my ability to reach new audiences.
Successful? Yes! But let’s see if we can tease out whether it was successful with intention by examining the network’s mission statement.
The Writescast Network’s Mission Statement
Network. Learn. Grow.
Hmm.
Did the Writescast Network lead to opportunities for networking? Yes.
Did it help me and others learn more about the craft and business of writing? Yes.
Did it help me and others grow as individuals and as authors? I’d like to think so.
Despite having fulfilled that mission, I’ll argue that the mission statement itself leaves a lot to be desired. It is concise, which I appreciate, but it has a few critical weaknesses that wound up costing me, the network, and its listeners in the long run.
Unpacking the Writescast Network’s Baggage
Let me be clear. That mission statement above? I never actually articulated this or any other mission statement for the network while it was around.
And, even if I had, the mission statement I’ve retconned into place for it doesn’t adequately articulate a why. It also fails to give us any insight into the network’s how.
This lack of specificity and purpose led to a number of issues throughout the network’s lifecycle, particularly once I began to enjoy some success as an author in my own right. Why? Because once I had books getting published, the network’s mission shifted to one that emphasized helping me sell more books.
And can you blame me? Once one knows their books are to be in print, the next step is to ensure those books are read, and all the better if readers are willing to pay for them.
Looking back at it, the mission statement above about networking, learning, and growing is one that could have helped me get a crucial leg-up in a crowded marketplace.
And yet, it didn’t. Why?
A Mission-less Launch, A Hard Pivot
My failure to articulate a quality mission statement in advance—coupled with the shoe-horned pivot to focusing on book sales—led to a virtuous cycle that exposed the network’s foundational issues.
These included having been overly-focused on the network’s what (producing podcasts), failing to target the proper audience for my work as an author, and broadcasting content that wasn’t in alignment with my long-term goals of shutting down my freelance editing business and focusing on my own writing.
This is what ultimately led to my scrapping the network altogether despite its success in terms of downloads, listenership, and the opportunities it afforded me.
Had I articulated a stronger sense of purpose for the network before I started interviewing authors and posting episodes willy-nilly, I might have identified earlier the issues that led to its unwinding, thereby transcending success and arriving at success with intention.
What does this mean, then? It means that the mysterious Enterprise B is the one that achieved success with intention.
Enterprise B: Kill Your Darlings Candle Company
My wife and I founded Kill Your Darlings Candle Company (KYD, or KYD Candle Co.) in 2020. In the 18 months before we sold its intellectual property, we received 688 orders (more than one per day, on average), took in nearly $20,000 in revenue, and raised more than $800 for values-aligned non-profit organizations. Our customer base stretched across three countries on two continents, and we reached profitability in our second year of operation.
We may have also started a cult, but more on that later.
Kill Your Darlings Candle Company’s Mission Statement
For purposes of exploration and comparison, let’s see if the KYD mission statement gives us any insight into its success (with intention!).
Kill Your Darlings Candle Company sustainably illuminates the lives of readers, writers, and their communities.
Clear. Concise. Instructive. It served to remind us—and the world—what we did, who we did it for, and why we did it. The inclusion of a word like sustainably also made for a suggestion of how we went about our work, which led to a more complete mission statement and offered insight into our values as an organization.
The KYD mission statement further distinguishes itself from the Writescast Network’s because it was crafted with care before we launched the business. As a result, it served as the guiding light that informed our decisions, our marketing, and our operations throughout our time at the helm of the enterprise.
Mission-Guided Products and Marketing: Choosing Our Pursuits
For example, the brand’s initial success—and requests from consumers—led us to consider expanding our product line to include bath and body products. We did some prototyping but, after asking ourselves whether a line of soaps would sustainably illuminate the lives of readers, writers, and their communities, the answer very quickly revealed itself to be no.
Soaps don’t illuminate, after all.
Contrast that with our choice to partner with other authors to support their work. Doing so had a direct tie-in to the notion of illuminating the lives (and livelihoods, we hoped) of writers and readers by bringing the two of them together in small features on social media or by crafting limited runs of custom candles that complemented their books.
Okay, but What About the Cult?
One of the more fascinating outcomes of embracing a strong mission statement is that it positioned us to engage with a highly targeted audience in an authentic way. Clarity of purpose attracted customers who were aligned with our values and, it seemed, an appreciation for the work of others in our communities.
So began the cult of Becky at the Post Office.
The Legend of Becky at the Post Office
It wasn’t uncommon for me to post on social media about the process of boxing up orders on the weekend. I’d then follow up with additional posts during the week about how I was headed out for the weekly post office run and how patient Becky at the Post Office had been as I brought in an ever-growing stack of packages each week.
This led to a craze I could not have anticipated.
Our followers on social media started to ask about Becky each week. They told me to say hi, to thank her on on their behalf, to ask if they could buy candles for her.
At one point, we even designed Becky at the Post Office merch, and though it never made it to our online store, that it even escalated to that point is a testament to the power of community, something we were able to cultivate only because we had a clear sense of purpose that centered around readers, writers, and their communities.
KYD Candle Co.: Not Without Its Challenges
It would be poor form to suggest that a mission statement on its own permits an operation to overcome all obstacles. In the case of KYD Candle Co., we were never able to scale the business in a way that would have been sustainable for us as its owners. Our respective day jobs (or, in my case, side hustles) on top of the time and energy required to keep up with orders, marketing, and product development eventually snowballed into more responsibility than we were capable of assuming.
Despite those challenges, KYD was—especially compared to the Writescast Network—successful with intention. Running KYD may have been chaotic at times, but it was controlled chaos. Why? Because we knew who we were, what we were about, and why we were doing what we were doing. This made for a vastly better experience as business owners and, I believe, better outcomes for the community we served.
As a final testament to the success of KYD relative to that of the Writescast Network, our sale of the candle company’s intellectual property in 2021 made for a lasting affirmation that what we were selling and why we sold it had a significant impact on our target market.
Crafting an Effective Mission Statement for Your Enterprise
We’ve explored, now, the difference between success and success with intention by comparing and contrasting the outcomes of the Writescast Network and Kill Your Darlings Candle Company.
Though the podcast network achieved success on paper, it proved to be misaligned with other medium- and long-term goals, and it failed to ascertain the same levels of engagement that the candle company did in far less time.
In the next installment in this series, we’ll take what we’ve learned and explore what sets a good mission statement apart, as well as how we can use that knowledge to sharpen our sense of purpose and achieve success with intention.
In the meantime, tell me in the comments—
Have you ever worked on a project that was successful on paper but lacked a clear sense of purpose? How did that affect its long-term sustainability?
What’s one way a well-defined mission statement has (or could have) helped you make better strategic decisions in your own work?
Ryan, I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Here are my examples:
CORE VALUES (what I promise to deliver):
My NONFICTION books are positive, uplifting, constructive, and healing. They help the reader close the gap between where they are and where they want to be.
My FICTION books deliver a ticking time bomb of simmering tension that keeps the space between the pages and the reader emotionally taut.
MISSION STATEMENT
Stephen Covey defined a mission statement as: “Your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.”
My mission statement as an author:
I craft compelling and thought-provoking crime thrillers that captivate readers, provoke contemplation, and inspire a deeper understanding of the human condition.
My vision statement as an author:
Fiction or nonfiction, fans of my work love the human experience I bring to life on the page.
When my mission and vision statements intersect (purpose):
I take pleasure from the joy of writing and knowing that people love to read my work.
“My writing goal is simple: to leave you wanting more.” —Laurie Buchanan
I’ve written many mission statements over the years for work. Some were good and helpful, others not so much. They do tend to force clarity which is a positive. You know what you’re doing and why. This isn’t a guarantee of success but tend to lead to better outcomes.
Ryan, I’ve been following you for years and listened to your podcasts, remember you starting your candle company, and met you in person when you were a speaker at the big UW Madison writers conference that lasted 30 years before shutting down in 2020. You and I were also briefly in a critique group together. Your focus over the years has changed and it’s been interesting to watch you. I’ve enjoyed learning from you as a writer, though I was never able to connect to your writing. Your advice and feedback as a writing coach was spot on. Perhaps this was during times you focused there.
Success happens for many reasons and luck is part of it. We also need to decide what success looks like and this can change over time as we learn more. I’m still writing and plan on publishing but none of my books have made it out to the world yet. My goals have been scaled back both in terms of reality check and who I am today vs who I was 10 years ago when I started writing seriously. At one point I thought I would make money and run things as a business. Today my goal is to connect with an audience and I don’t expect to make a dime. I look at my writing as a hobby I enjoy which removes a lot of stress. I can just enjoy the process and see where it goes.