A lot of you have been thinking about what your WHY is lately, and that’s great. Starting with WHY can help differentiate your company and create loyal fans.
But I think some of you are still missing the boat when it comes to determining your WHY.
Your WHY isn’t about your products. It’s not about your process. It’s not even really about you.
Your WHY should be about a higher purpose. A cause, idea, or belief beyond yourself.
Let me give you a few examples:
Apple’s WHY is to challenge the status quo. It has nothing to do with computers. Computers were just the first way that they chose to manifest their WHY. And it’s why they’ve been so successful with so many different products and business models.
Bill Gates’ WHY is to help every person reach their maximum productivity. It’s a WHY that he infused into Microsoft, and one he took with him when he started his foundation. Two completely different projects, but the WHY is the same.
This is a good litmus test for your WHY. If you jumped to a completely different type of product, business model, or industry, would your WHY carry over?
The other key point about both Apple’s WHY and Bill Gates’ is that it’s not about them. It’s about something bigger that they bring to the world. Something that they bring to their customers.
Meredith has a great post on Smaller Box where she talks about focusing on your customers, and I agree wholeheartedly. Your business needs to be about more than what it does for you, it needs to be about what it does for your customers and the world.
And this is the second test when it comes to determining your WHY. Is your WHY about you, or about what you do for other people?
Some people seem to have a very clear WHY, that they can easily articulate and put into words. For the rest of us, finding our WHY requires a little more introspection.
Determining my WHY meant looking back at all the things I’ve done throughout my life. Not just my businesses, but also what I studied in school, my extracurricular activities, and my volunteer work as an adult. These are seemingly disparate activities, but they all have one common thread.
My WHY is to change the way people think about and experience their world.
Here on Crafting an MBA, I try to get you to think differently about your business. With my jewelry business, it’s about getting people to recognize the beauty in an industrial material and to give them jewelry that changes the way they feel about their day. Regardless of what I do, I’m always trying to get people to see and experience things differently.
I worked through a lot of different versions of what I thought was my WHY before coming to that one. Ultimately, all those other versions didn’t pass the tests I outlined in this post. They were too specific to my products or WHAT it was that I was doing, and some of them were too focused on me.
I have lots of personal reasons for doing what I do. I don’t want a traditional nine to five job and I love making things by hand. But these aren’t reasons that customers should buy from me.
When it comes to understanding your WHY, you need to think beyond you and your products and focus on a bigger vision.
Ultimately, your WHY should be the kind of idea, belief, or cause that joins people together. An ideology that people can identify with. Because this is what will help you find your true customers, sell more products, and ultimately, help you achieve all those personal whys that also motivate you.
I guess I miss understood before. Now my head hurts, it’s a good thing it’s Friday. I was at a show once and a customer asked me why I made my jewelry? That memory has always stuck out in my head. The obvious answer is because I enjoy it and to make a living. I think that is what I told her too because that is the truth. She replied with “oh I thought maybe you had a charity or a cause” She really caught me off guard with that response and somewhat made me feel guilty. The way that I look at it is, I would not want to choose a charity just to be able to say that I have one in hopes that would sell more jewelry. I feel like that is motivation coming from the wrong direction. Since then I have said that when something hits me that I feel passionate about that I feel it is appropriate and honest it may be a good cause. It has not hit me yet. You have me in deep thought this morning Megan. I guess I will have to search more for my why if it is a cause or something more worldly, I guess it is not something that can be forced just to come up with something just to have it. It is not as easy as it sounds. I went back and reread the original post and the comments. Many of the comments said they knew what their why was, but did not share it, I wish they would. I would love to hear what other perspectives are. Thanks for the post Megan. Have a great weekend.
Meg Carter
Excellent post Megan! I feel like I have a strong WHY, I just still fumble with my words in face to face interactions. I think this weekend I’ll write out my WHY, that way it is easier for me to articulate!
I just stumbled onto your website a week or so ago, thanks for giving me great reads for my morning coffee!
Nicole Sheahan
What an inspiring post. My *why* is about living a seasonal, sustainable, simpler life, but with abundance rather that scarcity. I focus on many things you can make at home and for free or for very little money: sewing, making jam and bread, arranging flowers from your garden/roadside verge, really noticing the seasons and how magical they are. You don’t have to consume a lot to lead a happy, meaningful life.
I’m with Meg! You’ve given me a lot to ponder! Thank you!
I know the “why” I create for the women in our lives, but I need to step outside the box and, as Nicole mentioned, write it out! It’s like a “mission statement” for a non-profit… it’s for others, not self.
Again, thank you for your inspiring words!
Just recently I started to realise I have a why. I’m a little scared at times to run with it. But it’s there, I’m just working out how to shape it and best to deliver it. My why is to inspire women to feel good about themselves. To have an inner confidence that radiates on the outside. It’s simple, but powerful.
I have recently started to figure out that my WHY is that I want people to have a special occasion feeling whenever they enjoy a drink or meal at home rather than only experiencing that feeling when they go out to a restaurant. Meals should not have to be unmemorable, just because they are eaten in the home.
My problem so far, is that I need to refine that statement of purpose and then begin to introduce it to my marketing materials and website, since I am not always available to potential buyers to articulate my WHY face-to-face.
I wonder if your why…is your mission statement or vision statement type of thing? Although it seems…it’s even higher up and over encompassing than that. Hmm… definitely more to think about. Thanks for bring up this subject again and providing some concrete examples – and sharing YOUR why. 🙂
Thank you so much for the follow-up post! Your first post “Standing Out By Starting With Why” and watching Simon Sinek’s “The Power of Why” video reminded why I have to do what I do and reignited my passion to take the next steps to move in the direction that I need to stay focused on the why.
Yesterday I did start with the “why do I make/do/feel the need to…” and then this morning as I was driving I realized that it was bigger than that – it wasn’t about me or my jewelry- and then my “why” just hit me.
So when I came here and read this:
“Your WHY should be about a higher purpose. A cause, idea, or belief beyond yourself….
If you jumped to a completely different type of product, business model, or industry, would your WHY carry over?”
You totally validated that what just “hit” me is exactly my WHY.
THANK YOU!!!
My why has always been to encourage women to recognize/remember their power and their beauty. Power on big and small levels and whole person beauty.
Is this conveyed in my message? I don’t know sometimes. I think I’m too close to it all to really see clearly.
I feel like my WHY is clearly defined. I make bags and fabric creations to combine my passions of sewing and birds, and donate a portion of my sales to avian rescues and sanctuaries. This is a cause near and dear to my heart, and we have adopted several parrots from rescues or people who could no longer care for their birds due to illness.
However, my challenge is to get that message out there to potential customers, instead of “preaching to the choir” of people I already know in the rescue community.
I absolutely loved reading all of the posts and comments this morning. I have always known my why. I was just never sure how to phrase it. Like Jeanie and Amy, I want my customers to feel like they are special when they wear my jewelry. I really like the ways that these ladies have phrased their whys. It has given me perspective into how I want to word mine. The motto for my shop is “Let us take you from Pretty to WOW!” I am still learning how to sell online but have found that in the real world selling my jewelry comes easily. My customer base is full of return customers who come to me again and again.
Thanks a lot Megan, I never think about this before, but now I think that I know my “why”, and it has to do with everything I am and what I experienced in my life. Something that I learn during my life and that I want to share with my customers. 🙂
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You hit the nail on the head with this one! I recently stumbled across simon sinek’s Ted talk on this very subject, and it inspired me. I didn’t quite understand the terminology or did i know how to put it in words, but you did so simple yet so eloquently. I’ve been faithfully reading this blog for a week or so now and thank you for sharing your wonderful insight.
My WHY is to inspire imagination and creativity in children. I make “open ended” toys that remind me of the wonder of childhood: fairy tales before bed, playing in the woods, chasing fireflies, believing wholeheartedly in the impossible. Before I started making toys I designed cosplay jewelry, I was the president of my high school art club, I volunteered with a summer reading program for elementary kids and was the “craft counselor” at church camp. When I became a mom I discovered my passion for what I call traditional toys with a twist. I don’t donate money through my business, but I have made story-inspired toys as gifts for libraries and schools and it has actually brought me a few customers. I sell in galleries and boutiques but I’m opening an online shop soon and your site has been very helpful, thank you.