Time to nail down your Business WHY

Episode 1: The Super Important Business WHY

Time to nail down your Business WHY Do you ever feel unmotivated in your business? Ever want to just give up because you’re hustling so hard? That can all be fixed with one thing- nailing down your WHY. Let’s talk about nailing down your business why.

Do you ever feel unmotivated in your business? Ever want to just give up because you’re hustling so hard? That can all be fixed with one thing- nailing down your WHY.

Let’s talk about nailing down your business why. If this is a topic that makes you feel anxious, or if you just have no idea who your ideal client is or why exactly you want to chase this career, then this episode is for you. 

Since we’re at the beginning of the podcast, I wanted to start with advice for the beginning of your business. Now don’t be fooled. This topic is one that can be addressed MANY times throughout your business journey as your brand and mission evolves. 

You’ve probably heard people say that you need to know your business WHY. You need to know WHY you’re in this specific business and trying to make a space for yourself in this competitive world. 

Now if you’re anything like me, I used to DREAD this topic. I always knew I wanted to go into business but it was so hard for me to answer why? Uhhh “to make more money I guess?” “ to have more time?” I mean, it sounded generic and I had no idea how to figure out why I wanted this so badly. I just knew I wanted it. 

Your WHY is what motivates you to be in your specific niche. You might see businesses post on their website “We’re wedding photographers because we believe in the sanctity of marriage.” Or health experts saying “We’re here to serve you because we believe a healthy life is a happy life.” People want to know why they should choose you as the expert and the best way for them to figure it out, is to know why you’re there in the first place. 

Today, we’re going to talk about why it is you do what you do. Now I know that the best of the best out there talk about their why’s with such passion, clarity, and conviction, that it can seem intimidating. It honestly did for me! 

But in reality, most people really don’t know why they do what they do or they know their WHY on a surface level. Today we’re going to go from a surface level WHY, from thoughts on why you want to successful- to anchoring it in our heart with feelings and emotions. When you do that – there’s no stopping you.

Have you ever been around kids, and notice how they always ask, “WHY?” Even from young ages, we instinctively understand that having a WHY or a motive behind an action is the most important piece of any story. It creates validation. 

As a business, knowing your why will help with two crucial things

1. Stay committed
2. Getting others on board with your business

We’re going to go through both of those points today.

Simon Sinek said “People don’t buy what you do or how you do it, they buy WHY you do it.”

I’m going to be honest, I always struggled with my WHY. I heard COUNTLESS successful entrepreneurs mention it on all sorts of blogs, podcasts, and in courses. But I felt like I didn’t know WHY I wanted to start my business, I just knew that I wanted to.

Then I invest in a business course with Dean Graziosi. In the course, they provided me with the perfect tool to uncover my WHY and I want to share it with you because it was so powerful for me and my business.

This specific exercise is going to help you to find your business WHY that will keep you committed. But here’s the thing- You really have to sit down, and take the time. When you do- I promise you you’re going to discover the fuel you’ll need to keep moving that business forward- no matter what happens.

I want to stress one point before I walk through it with you. Not having a true, strong WHY is one of the biggest reasons why people fail in the business world. Really let that sink in. Lacking in your WHY, means you’re lacking clarity in your business. Your WHY, is completely tied in with your mission. If you don’t have a strong mission- what do you have? Your WHY is so much deeper than what you think. If your WHY is “to make more money,” that’s great, but that’s not going to keep you committed when things get tough- which they will.

Having a clear WHY, or purpose, or mission, is on its way to becoming the number one thing that will set your business apart from the rest. Businesses with a strong defined purpose have better customer engagement, connect deeper with customers, and fuel their bottom line. It’s crucial to the success of your business.

Now let’s dive in. This exercise is called 7 Levels Deep. I can tell you this method is tried and true! Since working through the 7 levels, my why has never been more clear and my drive to push through and continue the work I’m doing has never been stronger! 

The first question is this: Why is it important for you to become successful? I want you to write down your answer, or if you can’t write it down, think about it and say it out loud if possible! WHY is it important?

When you have your answer- we’re going to turn it into the next question! So when I did this exercise, I answered by saying “It’s important for me to become successful so that I can create a community and scale my business.”

Question number two would then be “Why is it important for you to create a community and scale your business?”

Do you see what I did there? I took the answer from the first question, and turned it into the second question.  This whole exercise is asking why you wanted your previous answer and why it’s important to you. You’re going to do this 7 times! Yes. 7. That’s why it’s called 7 levels deep. It is the magic number. I’m going to be honest- this gets hard and you’re going to have to dig really deep. The point of the process is the more you ask why from the previous answer, the more you’ll get out of your head and get more into your heart. Digging deep is going to be how you find out your real WHY which will fuel you through any problem you’re going to face. 

When you’re having a bad day- you’re not going to be thinking of your surface WHY like “i want to create a community and scale my business” -that’s not enough to drive you on a bad day. It’s not enough to get you out of bed when you’re not feeling the best. What will get you out of bed, what will help you break through the barriers, what will allow you to never stop, is knowing your final 3 in the 7 levels deep.

When I learned this exercise in my business class from Dean Graziosi, he talked about how he cried his first time completing the exercise. Like I said, you really have to dig deep and get to the core of who you are. You might even have to work through childhood experiences to understand why you want this better or different life now. Again, it’s personal,and It’s definitely for you. However, if it works with your brand, don’t be afraid to share it! The WHY you figured out from going 7 levels deep, is the why that is going to help you stay committed. I can’t tell you how many people I know who started a business, but gave up as soon as the waters got a little deep. Want to know why? Because they didn’t have a strong why. They didn’t have a strong enough reason to push through when the going got tough. 

You can find the worksheet for the 7 Levels Deep exercise here.

Now I want to dive into another aspect of knowing your WHY, because we also want to find out why you’ve decided on a certain niche, because this is what’s going to help get your ideal clients on board with your business.

So in the beginning of this episode, we talked about how knowing your why will help with two crucial things

1. Staying committed- and we talked about this with the 7 level deep exercise. Those deep, core reasons will be what keeps you moving forward when the going gets tough.
2. Getting others on board with your business- which we’re going to talk about now.

Do you ever feel like people don’t take your business seriously? Maybe even your closest network like family and friends views it as more of a “hobby” then as a career. 

Maybe more than your closest network, you don’t feel like your following takes you seriously. This is where knowing your business WHY can help you.

Let’s talk about your passions. There are so many businesses out there right? It’s honestly amazing how we can turn a passion into something that helps us keep the lights on, but what people want to know is why you started that business. Why is that niche your passion. 

With so many businesses out there, customers want to feel like they’re supporting a cause, not just buying a product. Make sure your following knows that you love what you do. When they know that, and they see how much you love what you do, they’ll be more confident that you have the best product or offer the best service, and they’ll want to support your enthusiasm with their business.

So why are you in your niche? This ties in with finding your story. What happened in your life that made you passionate about what your business is? Mine was my grandmother and upbringing, maybe yours was how you went to the library for a free jelery making class and it was so fun it hooked you! You loved expressing yourself through your art, and it made you feel XYZ.

Write down WHY your niche is your passion. Figure out why you started on this specific path, and share the heck out of it. Tell people your story. Tell them why you’re not only in business, but why they should work with you over someone else. Sharing your story will help your ideal clients relate with you and will help create that relationship all business owners need to create that know-like-trust factor. 

The key to harnessing passion is understanding your why. Why did you become a fitness coach? Was it because you lost 50lb and learned how a healthy lifestyle correlated to a happy life? Then that’s your why and that’s the story you need to share the heck out of with your clients. 

To wrap it up let’s go over three action items we can do today to move the needle forward:

1. Action step #1: Complete the 7 levels deep exercise. ACTUALLY WRITE IT DOWN! Don’t skip this friends- you’re only cheating yourself. And for the sake of transparency, I want to share this took me a long time to fill out. So don’t be afraid to start and come  back to it if you have to!
2. Action Step #2: Write down the story of how you got into your niche and why it’s your passion. 
3. Action Step #3: Share the story you wrote down from action step number two on social media with a picture of you where people can actually see your face. Use this to start building genuine connections. 

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XOXO,