Do I Need to Have a Vision/Mission Statement for My School?

Welcome back to the micro-school builders Q&A series!

I’m Mara Linaberger, author of the Micro-school Builder’s 9-step guide to building the school of your dreams in less than a year without sacrificing your salary or sanity.

This is the third video in a series that tackles your questions about building micro-schools. Today’s question comes from the third step of my 9-step guide that most micro-school builders and all of my clients follow. Today’s question is: 

Do I need a vision and mission statement for my micro-school?

The quick answer to the question is – yes.  It’s important to have marketing copy that communicates to the parents of your potential students what your school is all about, and how it will serve their special kiddo.

And now for the more detailed part of my answer as to vision and mission statements.  One of the most important steps up front is to be crystal clear about whom you serve, how your program serves a specific niche market, and how your micro-school will provide real value to your clients.

To achieve those goals with your mission and vision statement I recommend you….

1. take time to write a short bio about your “ideal student” The more detail you can add, the clearer your messaging will be in helping prospective families to find you
2. research the area where you plan to build your school – find some way in which your school can serve students – either an overlooked demographic, or by offering unique programming not available elsewhere.
3. and thirdly look at the vision and mission statements of other schools in your area – ones that might see you as a competitor, and be sure to differentiate your school in ways that become collaborative vs. competitive with those schools.
   
   Once you’ve figured out who you’ll serve, what kind of programming you’ll offer, and how to communicate your mission and vision in ways that benefit the community, you’ll be able to construct marketing copy that easily reaches your ideal clients.

If you’d like to know more about micro-schools and how to build one of your own – I invite you to go to the link I’ve shared below this video you can grab your free copy of the 9-step guide I’ve created, and watch the training videos that come along with it. I hope that this video has helped clarify your questions about how mission and vision statements can help to better communicate the value of your micro-school in your community. I hope that you’ll choose become part of the movement to remake education through the creation of micro-schools around the globe.  Until next time, have a great day!