Today’s question is What is your why? I want to talk about the purpose of your business: WHY are you doing what you do, why do you have a business? The power of the why can literally change the way you do business and ultimately how people are going to see you.

Everything has already been said, better than I could, by many experts. And I think the TED talk by Simon Sinek sums up what you should start doing. And you should Start with Why (that’s the title of Simon’s book).

Now here is the TED talk video I mentioned, you’ll see you can download it, and there’s even a transcript for easy reference, translated in many languages.

What Is Your Why Presentation:

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

I took notes, and the key is to shift your focus from what you’re doing, to why you’re doing it. Simon takes the examples of Apple, the Wright Brothers and Martin Luther King and explains the difference these business and people have made in people’s lives and the results they got simply by reversing the order of information of what he calls the Golden Circle.

Most business know what they do. Apple makes computers. They know how they make them. They know WHY they do it. And this is really important: do you really know why you want, have, are an online business? If you answered for profits, you got that wrong. It’s like focusing on the features instead of the benefits.

People buy why you do business. Simon says:

the goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have,
the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe

Keep that in mind. You certainly know what you have to offer to the marketplace, how you create this offer, but the starting point is knowing why people buy. This is your why that people believe.

The why asks for a cause, a reason, a purpose, a belief. Know it and make it the starting point of your business and things are going to change for the better. Because people buy for themselves, not for you. And that is the main principle of every successful business.

There is actually a bit more from the presentation but I hope you got the essential. Go watch it now, it’ll be 18 minutes well spent. Here are the last words from the talk:

Leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us. Whether they’re individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. And it’s those who start with “why” that have the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them.
– Simon Sinek

If you liked this post and think your friends can benefit from it then share it with them. Also please comment and let me know what is your why and how it is driving your business, or life?