Many entrepreneurs have a clear vision but struggle to bring it into reality. Learn why business foundations, branding assets, offer clarity, and decision-making are essential before building websites, funnels, and systems.

The Startup Project That Got Me Thinking

Recently, I did something I don't usually do. I said yes to working with a startup business. The vision is BIG, it's exciting, I love the mission. It's with two women I've worked with before when we were doing affiliate marketing.

They've both been in business for many years, so they're not completely fresh to the ways of the online industry.

They've hired me to build the initial pieces:

• A homepage

• A landing page for the signature group mastermind

• A landing page for an event later in the year

I'll be connecting all the checkout pages, automations, setting up email welcome and nurture sequences etc.

When we initially spoke it sounded like they had a pretty clear brand concept and clarity on offers. So I sent my proposal, we did a bit of negotiating on priority deliverables. I very clearly outlined in my proposal that I am not responsible for branding, visual identity, copy, or messaging.

I've been burned on this piece before so I now make sure it's very explicitly outlined that these lay outside of my scope of work.

I’m a systems and tech witch.. not message and branding.

I build website and sales pages, yes… when the brand bible already exists.

I build the tech, yes… when you know what your offers and customer journey are.

Without these vital pieces, I don’t have a whole lot to work with.

Why We're Getting Stuck

The proposal was accepted, first invoice was paid, I sent the checklist with all the assets and deliverables I need in order to get started on the project.

Usual things like:

• access & logins

• logo & brand files

• photography & imagery

• colour palette

• copy (listing every section of the pages so it's very clear what's needed)

And this is where we're getting stuck.

Because right now, it's all just vision. And every time I ask for something tangible, I'm not receiving it.

I've asked for branding and copy. Two very vital pieces for me to be able to do anything. And I've been given a folder with some AI generated banners. A Claude generated brand bible. And a lot of voice note transmissions about the vision.

No separate logo files. No font specifications. Nothing in dimensions I can work with. I've been given some HEX codes, but then there's so many branches of the brand and it's not clear what applies to which aspect.

Images with a logo positioned on them is not branding. If I have no way of separating the logo files from the images so I can adjust dimensions as needed, then I have no workable branding assets.

This is what happens when individual assets are created without thinking about how they'll fit into the larger ecosystem.

You decide you want a banner for a Facebook group, you get it created.. great. Then what? When that’s the only piece you have and you come to me expecting me to use this piece to build a site and landing pages.

A Facebook banner solves one problem. A well thought out brand system solves fifty future problems.

I've been told there's going to be a podcast, and events, and a mastermind. That it needs to feel luxury and haute couture and mysterious. All things I can create.. But every time I ask for specifics around pricing, or dates, or anything tangible to help me create a sales page... there's no clear decisions being made.

If The Spirit Isn't Here In The Material

This is exactly why visionaries need implementers, but when they're too stuck in vision and unable to provide anything material, it makes it very difficult for me to bring the concept into the 3D.

One of my mentors/clients/friends many years ago was quite involved in mentoring these kinds of spiritual leaders to ground their visions into reality. He also made a bunch of songs and we spent a week in a castle doing ritual and filming music videos and business content. That was definitely a career highlight.

In one of his songs he had this line about "if the spirit isn't here in the material, maybe that's the reason that your cashflow's ethereal".

This line often pops into my head when I think about these visionaries. They are sooo gifted at what they do, and have sooo much value to offer, but you ask them to do anything that will actually anchor the business, and it's straight up avoidance.

You can speak about the vision for hours, get people believing in it... but at some point you have to come back down to earth and play in the material realms too. If you want to be collecting $$ and enrolling clients, you need a place for people to land. You want a place for people to land. You need clarity on what you’re offering.

Until those pieces are anchored, you’ve got nowhere to take people. Big long vision transmissions are great, but where’s it leading? Posting about applications and waitlists, without actually giving me what I need to create those pages is just leaving people hanging. They're there on your page engaging, you're telling them to do these things, but then don't actually have the place to land them... you're going to lose them to the next shiny thing.

The Difference Between Vision And Deliverables

If you still can’t tell me that, then we’re going round and round in circles and nothing is gonna get built. I can help extract the information. I can guide you and tell you what I need from you. But at the end of the day, it's your vision and it's still on you to be able to provide those pieces.

You don’t need to keep enrolling me in your vision. A lot of fluffy words still doesn’t tell me what I need.

• What are you offering?

• Who is it for?

• When is it happening?

• How much is it costing?

Until you can give me tangiblee pieces I can’t create anything.

Vision is where creation begins, but deliverables are where creation takes shape and gets to land in reality. These are the pieces that allow me to actually get in and build it.

If you're wondering why nothing is getting built, it might be worth asking whether you need more vision...or whether it's time to start making decisions.

At the end of the day, you can talk and talk and talk... but until you have a place for someone to land and take the next step of the journey... it's nothing but talk.

And talk doesn't get mouths fed.