[Free Book Preview #11]

[Free Book Preview #11] Discover Your ‘Why’ & Transform Your Business Journey

Hey there, Freedom Seeker!

Welcome to the exhilarating big sky of small business entrepreneurship!

I wrote a book for you. This book reveals the Unbiased Small Business Research Formula developed from decades in the trenches of American Main Street and online business as a small business entrepreneur and a coach. Its objective is to help you become the successful creator of the new life you envision by objectively guiding you in researching and choosing the right business.

In the next weeks, I’ll share free sections of the book with you before it’s released for publication and available for purchase.

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1 – STEP 1: Your Life Purpose and Your “Why.” 

Your purpose is the fuel that powers your business. The right business for the right life provides more than just money for survival and comfort. It enables your life purpose, or at least it aligns with your highest values.

As small business entrepreneurs, owning our means of livelihood with a business affords us the freedom to choose:

• What we do.

• How we work.

• With whom we work.

• Where we work.

• When we work.

• How much we earn.

It’s a whole lot of “freedoms,” isn’t it? “The pursuit of these “freedoms” are the reasons entrepreneurs choose to live by “eating what they kill,” a graphic yet explicit analogy in entrepreneurial circles from Silicon Valley to Wall Street. Entrepreneurs don’t rely on a wage for protection; instead, they rely on metaphorically “hunting” through their business success. 

Another freedom is “The freedom to choose why we spring out of bed in the morning.” When we own the right business, we also make decisions according to our values and what engages us profoundly. It is the freedom to live and work with a purpose- adding the most meaning to our existence. When we choose a business as a vehicle to actualize our life purpose, we add a powerful dimension to our existence. 

In his book, Start with Why, Simon Sinek conceptualizes the Golden Circle to illustrate how a WHY is central to a company’s identity to motivate and inspire people. 

As a small business owner, you have the privilege of creating a business that centers around your personal WHY. It’s a luxury that CEOs of public companies don’t usually have because their priority is the ROI for the shareholders. Yes, the organization might have a purpose that it communicates to the world, but it is often independent of its current leader’s private priorities.

The graph below shows how your WHY is at the heart of your small business.

When you prioritize your WHY, your business is the instrument- the HOW-  to actualize your WHY. The WHAT is what your business offers and delivers to customers (the solution/product). Organizing your WHY around your Business’ HOW and WHAT is a robust way to build a strong foundation foruccess in your company and your life.  In return, your WHY is the fuel that powers your business because it provides you, the small business leader, the motivation and energy to lead it.What is and isn’t a life purpose? 

Here are a few tips that will clarify what purpose is and isn’t and how to go about identifying it. 

Our purpose, our big WHY, is the reason we do what we do. It defines what motivates us and inspires us to take action. We are not always aware of why we do the things we do. Often we make certain decisions and take certain actions just because it feels right, but we are not clear on the reasons behind our choices. Usually, it is our life purpose subconsciously guiding us. Later we might realize that “gut feeling” was simply our purpose screaming to get out. 

A purpose is not the same as a passion for a hobby or an activity. A passion for a hobby is what we do because we enjoy what it does for us. For example, art, running, skiing, surfing, knitting, fishing, golfing, classic cars, yoga, etc. can make us feel creative, athletic, adventurous, in-flow, relaxed, at peace, balanced, social, etc. which means it benefits us, not others. 

For instance, I am passionate about hiking and swimming because both activities help me feel grounded and clearheaded. A few times a year, I take a few days to trek in the wilderness, carrying my backpack for shelter and food. I find nature freeing and invigorating physically and mentally. It is a digital detox that lets me disconnect from all electronic devices for a few days. Attaching a business to it would surely ruin my hobby.

However, if your hobby is unlikely an ideal business idea, it can give you clues on your high-level values that can lead to your life purpose. My hobby of hiking gives me a sense of freedom and self-sufficiency. Freedom and self-sufficiency are my highest-level values which is why I love small businesses. Helping others have more freedom through self-sufficiency with a small business they own is my life purpose. Helping them live with freedom makes my work fulfilling. It gives me resilience in overcoming business challenges. I feel the most alive when guiding others to find their freedom, and I often lose track of time when I coach my clients.  

You may like to practice art because it is a medium to express yourself, and it gives you confidence. A business where you practice art might not be scalable. Yet, you could explore the deeper meaning of why you practice art and how it connects to your high values leading to your life purpose. 

Our purpose is our big “why.” Living in alignment with our purpose makes us face adversity and obstacles with persistence and faith. If “purpose” were an emotion, I would call it “true love.” True love is long-lasting, giving, forgiving, and resilient. Passion alone isn’t. 

Once you have identified your life purpose, the next step is to identify the business that can actualize your life purpose. I will show you how in the following chapter by using a simple approach. For now, let’s discuss the powers of aligning your purpose with your business.

How does a business economically benefit from being central to your purpose?

There are tremendous economic benefits to starting a business aligned with your purpose. And when you align your business with your life purpose it will make it economically stronger and more prosperous.  

• Your motivation as its leader: Our life purpose draws on our emotions of fulfillment and drive. So we give our best work. As the leader of your business, you will be more motivated even when you encounter the obstacles that are bound to show in any business, Which means the greater benefit and profit to the business. 

• Making better decisions: Your  WHY produces clarity and acts as a filter for all your business decisions. When you are unsure what to decide in certain situations, you can refer to your purpose to guide you to the answers. 

• Your unique brand identity: Your WHY makes you and your business stand out and creates a unique brand identity,  part of the hard-to-pinpoint “unfair advantage*” that makes you stand out, deters copycats, and minimizes the competition. Unless you own a patent for an innovative product, your small business’ brand identity is the closest you’ll get to having a monopolistic advantage. 

• Attracting the right people: When you communicate your “why” and unique brand identity to others who share your purpose, they will gravitate toward you. A distinctive and well-loved brand identity is not stealable. A company driven by a WHY is more stable and hence profitable because it attracts people who share the company’s purpose and values. Your customers will choose you and your business because what you stand for resonates with them. It creates stickiness in retaining customers and creating a loyal customer base. 

Your purpose will also help attract and keep the right employees who crave meaningfulness in their jobs, hence reducing the cost of employee turnover. Employees will stick with you through thick and thin because they are inspired by the purpose, which is likely the main reason they wanted to work for your company in the first place. Like your customers, they will not be easily persuaded to jump ship.

*In the Vetting Stage of the Right Business Right Life formula, we define your business’ “unfair advantage” and “unique brand identity.” 

 

Joining the VIP Waitlist

Would you like early access to your copy of the book as soon as it is released and receive a bonus book companion coaching session?

During the private coaching session, I’ll guide you through the exercises and templates in the book. Available to the first 20 VIPs who purchase the book. To join the VIP waitlist, click here.