Structure your appraisal of what really matters to you and your business.

Without structuring your thinking, you're likely to be all over the place. If you approach these questions of personal values and business standards in an orderly fashion, you will be more likely to produce a coherent result that you can communicate to others and one against which you will be able to measure performance.

I recommend: that you read the article - Before Your Startup - 5 "A"s to be more successful. It outlines the need to openly declare your larger purpose (Avowing); be aware of what's going on around you (Attending); to remain open to potentiality (Allowing); to act now, while going with the flow (Acting); to stand for your convictions, but admit your mistakes (Affirming).

Use creative ways of getting to define your standards.

There are many creative tools that you can use to make the process easier. One of these is Brainstorming. You've heard of the term, but don't be fooled, it too needs to be done in an organized way if it's to be effective.

I recommend: that you get the guidance on Brainstorming offered by Mind Tools, where you'll also find other useful and practical aids to creativity.

Build your standards into your business plan.

You're going to use your business plan for your own internal purposes - probably more than to seek funding. Either way, nailing your colors to the mast is important in living out your vision and meeting your goals.

I recommend: that you clearly define the purpose of your plan. It may be a back-of-the-envelope means of getting focus; a tool-to-make-sure-I've-thought-everything-through for yourself; a have-I-got-an-opportunity-for-you appeal to family or friends; a give-us-a-loan request to the bank; evidence to the SBA on here's-why-I-need-a-loan guarantee; a surely-this-venture-qualifies application for a grant; a can-you-help-with-money/experience pitch to an angel investor - or an all-bells-and-whistles plan to present to a venture capitalist.
Whatever the purpose, take a look at Savvy Business Planning and Sustainable Business Startup to orientate yourself.

Measure Your Performance Against Your Standards

It's all very well to set standards, but there's little point in doing so and then hiding them in a desk drawer. The standards not only have to be lived, they also have to be measured. Measuring them and then acting in the light of them, will in turn reinforce your good fortune. If you set out to measure performance against standards, then you are unlikely to fall into the trap of 'greenwashing' (like whitewashing) where you make idle claims to appear virtuous. Think of how many times you've read "customer first" assertions from a company that treats you like dirt.

I recommend: Taking a formal approach to your standards measurement. One way is to use the Balanced Scorecard approach. You will examine your Vision and Strategy by taking stock of Financial and Customer measures, but you'll also be making a check on Internal Business processes as well as Learning and Growth. Another model you might like to follow is the GRI Sustainability Reporting guidelines that account for in the domains of the 3Ps: Profits, People and the Planet. You'll find example company reports at Ceres - a network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges - from Body Shop (retailing), Interface (carpets) and Seventh Generation (cleaning products) as well as multinationals as big as General Motors (they don't come much bigger).

Reinforce Your Standards Through Normal Business Functions

This standards process is not a one-shot activity, or even something that you check once in a while. To be meaningful, the standards have to be built into business-as-usual.

I recommend: especially for entrepreneurial companies like yours: two books that show you with many practical examples how standards can be part of everyday practice. the first is Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, by Bo Bellingham and the other is Marketing That Matters: 10 Practices to profit Your Business and Change the World, by Chip Conley and Eric Fiedenwald-Fishman.