The term “mission statement” has gotten a bad rap over the years. Too many business owners create  mission statements out of drivel and meaningless catch phrases such as: “customer service, quality products, and family values” .

Although you may offer all of the above, a mission statement is supposed to let everyone know what your business does and what it is striving to achieve. Good mission statements take time and effort. Here are some examples of good mission statements:

• Wal-Mart: To give ordinary folks the chance to buy the same thing as rich people
• Disney: To make people happy
• Domino’s Pizza: To be the leader in off-premises pizza convenience.
• McDonald’s: To be the world’s best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.

All of these examples are short and sweet and they let everyone know what their business is about – without all the meaningless boasting bluster!

To create your own mission statement fill in the following statements, and then condense the results into one or two short sentences. This will result in a mission statement that accurately reflects your business’s purposes.
(I have included my answers to get you started)

• Our customers are: (Greenhouse and Nursery Owners)
• Products and Services we offer are:(websites, blogs, online databases)
• Our Target Market is: (Greenhouses in Canada, Netherlands, USA)
• Our Ecomomic Objectives Are: (make money, profit)
• Our beliefs, values and aspirations are: (create visually appealing and user friendly websites)
• What are we really good at? (website design)

From these answers, I have created the webgarden mission statement as follows: 

Webgarden Mission Statement:

“Provide website design and development to the Canadian, Dutch and American Greenhouse and Nursery Industry by helping them create visually appealing, user friendly, standards compliant websites and online databases.”

There is no right or wrong answers when developing your mission statement. Also, it is not carved in stone, so as your business changes and grows so can your mission statement!