Knowing why you are in business or having a clear understanding of why you do what you do gives the small business owner a clarity of purpose and a powerful marketing advantage.
In 2020 discovering and clearly articulating your “why” is the most important thing you can figure out. It is the reason you do the things that you are passionate about. If you don’t know that – you can never completely fulfil your personal and professional dreams.
Over two years ago I had the opportunity to attend a business event in Melbourne to hear a presentation by Simon Sinek.
For those of you who may not have seen his profound Tedx talk “How great leaders inspire action”, which has attracted over 30 million views, here is the link: http://bit.ly/1fJPwPe.
In his book “Start with Why”, Simon says that is not the “what” that motivates us to jump out of bed in the mornings, it is the “why.” It is not the “what” that drives us to give great service and become expert in our field, it is the “why.”
In an article written by Richard Branson he said that an entrepreneur’s drive is not about making money, but about making a difference in people’s lives. He believes that those driven by money will not be around for the long haul.
There is a revolution happening globally where small businesses are joining forces with socially conscious and giving initiative not-for-profit, B1G1 – Business for Good (co-founded by Paul Dunn, our speaker at our special business event in March 2017) and are able to put why they do what they do first and foremost in the minds of their customers and potential customers. It is interesting to note that those who were crystal clear about their “why”, have businesses that are more evolved — and are significantly more profitable! The financial benefits are an outcome of that clarity.
There are loads of other examples — and many not quite so dramatic — but losing sight of your “why” is destined to put you, at best, in the “average” band of businesses. Not where you want to be, or where I want you to be – and that is eventually ‘Living the Great Southwest Dream!”.
So, how does having a clear “why” help your business?
Well for one thing, it tells you why you get out of bed in the morning to go and do something of value, but it does more than that.
Your “why” also does the following:
• It provides you with your guiding principles or vision as to what you do and how you do it.
• It informs your customers of your reason for being.
• It determines your behaviour – what you do and how you do it.
• It is reflected in your values.
• It determines the sort of customers you will deal with — they will share in your why.
• It determines the sort of people on your team, who you hire and represent you and your business.
When people ask me why we do what we do our why is very simple, and important to us.
“We get up every morning to positively impact young families in business by making their businesses REALLY work so that we all make an even bigger impact together. The rewards that brings allow our team (‘the fantastic four’) to make small but powerful contributions to impact our local community, our country and the lives of those less fortunate around the world”.
This clarity helps us every day, and drives us to give as much as we can to support our customers and helps us strive to provide awesome customer service .
Having a clear “why” gives you a context for everything you do in your business, and your life.
Give us a call today and we can help you define your why!
