Five Simple Steps to Create A Vision Statement for Your Resume Writing Business

I've said it many times before, but resume writers are the ultimate "shoemaker's kids." You know, the shoemaker's kids are barefoot. When's the last time you looked at your own branding? You're constantly coming up with branding profiles for clients, but what do YOU stand for?

You can't be all things to all people. You need to put some serious time into deciding who you are, and what you do. Part of the process is creating your vision statement. This is your purpose. It becomes a took to help you manage and market your career services.

Here is an exercise to help you create your vision statement:

1. Brainstorm a list of verbs that describe your business. What do you DO for clients? Come up with your own list, and then enlist the help of others to come up with a list of verbs.

2. Identify which verbs describe the essence of your business. Which 2-6 words (verbs) truly describe the essential activities of what you do and how you help clients?

3. Keeping those verbs in mind, who is your target audience? Who benefits directly from your services and why you do what you do?

4. Organize these ingredients into a simple statement that describes your business purpose and who you serve. Once you have drafted seotmhing that makes sense (and feels right!), put it aside for a few hours -- or a few days.

5. Next, do the "ONLY ME" test. Is this vision statement true of ONLY ME? (It's the same test we do for personal brand statements for our clients. If the same statement can be said of any jobseeker with that pairtuclar job title, you need to change it to make it more specific. Remember, "You must be specific to be terrific." (A quote from sales trainer Tom Hopkins!)

Your result should be a clearly written, concise, dynamic statement that expresses your reason for being in business.