Last week, I had the absolute honor of teaching at Creative at Heart Conference in Raleigh, NC for the seventh time! As an educator and speaker, it’s been such a joy to be able to pour into attendees (and support my sweet friend Kat!) through this game changing experience, and I can’t wait to share my full recap of Round 7 soon. Until then, I wanted to share a little peek into what I covered during my breakout sessions on Curating an Intentional Vision in Raleigh.

You see, friend, the more I dove into this topic with attendees and fellow educators, the more I saw that there’s a misconception of how your vision, your unique goal or idea for the future, can come to life in your business. So often, we think that creating a vision or using a vision board is something we utilize for gathering inspiration to decorate our offices or plan a styled shoot. And although those are wonderful ways to utilize this concept of vision, I believe we can take things deeper. What if we seriously explored what it looks like to create a vision (and vision board) for your brand that goes far beyond what colors you’ll use or what typefaces you’ll feature? What if we were able to create a clear idea of what you want your brand to stand for, and then we chose to bring it to life through a tangible vision board?

I believe that process can be transformative, friend. And here’s why — over the years that I’ve utilized this concept of vision in both of my businesses and in building two very-different-yet-successful brands, I’ve learned that creating a true vision is born within. You won’t stumbled across this type of vision on Pinterest or on your best friend’s Instagram feed. Instead, it will be shaped by your priorities, your values, and your deep hearted dreams for your work and life. But it gets better!

Understanding your vision for your brand defines your direction, sparks inspiration, and holds you accountable. What that really means is it defines what it is you’re chasing after, what it is that your brand is propelling you towards. Every time you look at a vision board that is built around your long term goal for how you want your brand to look, feel, and sound, you’ll be able to influence your decisions for your work that honor this original vision.

Your vision will also spark inspiration as every time you look at it, you’ll be reminded on what it is you’re chasing after. And, finally, having a clear vision for your brand will help hold you accountable to the types of decisions and overall trajectory that will empower you to go where you want to go. When you think about what you want your brand to stand for in the long run, and what you want it to look like, feel like, or sound like, you’ll be able to determine what choices may not be the best fit for your vision in the end. Little decisions, like what visuals to utilize to represent your brand intentionally or even big decisions, like what partnerships to take on, will be easier to navigate when you know what your long term vision is.

So, where does a vision board come into play here? Well, friend, a vision board will serve as an actionable tool that will help you define direction, spark inspiration, and determine accountability through the use of visual cues. Like I said before, this isn’t the type of vision you create for a one-time project. Instead, this is the type of long term visionary tool that will help propel you forward towards the brand of your dreams.

Tune back later this week for a post on how to find the best images for your vision board! And in the meantime, comment below with your vision for your visual brand. What do you dream of your brand looking, feeling, and sounding like?