Articulating a “vision” is crucial for your business, Hearts On Fire CEO Glenn Rothman said in a seminar titled “Vision Drives the Future.”

He said all businesses need to have a clearly defined business plan, which charts a clear course of their business for the next year and projects a vision into the future. He started by asking attendees to imagine exactly what they wanted their lives to look like five years in the future.

“If you don’t know what you want, you don’t know where you are going,” he said. “Most people spend their time working in their business and not on their business. . Business is about focus. Keep your dreams fresh in your mind. You need to get rid of your distractions and focus on your vision of success.”

He said the vision should be “grand” and specific. “Clearly imagine the growth and development of your business,” he said. “The more detailed your vision, the easier it is to align the exact forces you need to bring about your success.”

He noted that developing such a plan takes considerable time and energy. For example, it took two months to write the plan for Hearts On Fire. “It was almost like `birthing’ a document,” said Rothman.

Once you have decided on your vision, communicate it to employees and make sure they share it. “If you are just going to hang your mission statement on the wall, it’s not going to happen,” he said. “We communicate the vision of our business to our employees over and over again. You need to have other people believe in your dream in order to make it a reality.”

He also gave the following tips:

Hire “passionate, fearless, and energetic people,” and pay them well. “The more you pay your employees, the more money you will make,” he said. “You have to recognize and celebrate your staff.” He notes that employees in his company are even rewarded when they make mistakes. “People who never make a mistake are never doing anything,” he said. “Reward people for making creative mistakes and you will have a culture of action.”

Don’t micro-manage employees. “If you are watching every little thing your employees are doing, you are taking time away from your dream,” he said. “Set people up to succeed and empower them with responsibility.”

Be flexible. “You need to encourage change, you need to be in love with change,” he said. “You may end up five years from now with a different business than you have today.”

“Live with passion, work with passion, do what you love to do.”

“Celebrate your success and have fun.”

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