Have you ever thought about why you do what you do? Why are you in this particular business? Ok, sure, you want to make money, but it is not our “why”. How often do you ask yourself this question?
In this text I will introduce you to the Golden Circle concept from Simon Sinek and, of course, there is a new Be skilled challenge waiting for you – you will have to define your “why” and to harmonize your “why” with your business and personal life.
Simon Sinek is an author of many books, and one of them is “Start with Why”. In that book, Simon is explaining his concept of Golden Circle and he is claiming that our “why” is the base for our successful business and private life. We can all explain what we are doing and how we are doing it, but to define why we are doing what we are doing, now, that is a bit harder to do. It is not impossible, it is just a little more challenging.
If you have not defined your “why” properly, than your business (and life) can:
- Be somehow successful,
- In one moment you “get lost” and you do not know where you are any more,
- Fail,
- You can start super successful and than just crash or stay where you are and not move forward, no matter how hard you try,
- Etc.
A living proof:
Do you know what company had, at some point, lost it’s own “why” and almost vanished from the market?
You know them very well – the company I am talking about is Apple. Maybe some of you are even reading this on their MacBook or Macintosh or iPhone. Do you know their history?
The “why” of Apple was actually one man, who was fired/thrown out of the company. After they kicked him out their sales were so low and they became desperate. Finally, they came to their senses and begged him to come back and to do his magic. He got back and today they are as we know them, even when he is not around any more. Their “why” was Steve Jobs.
For more info on this topic you can watch the movie “Jobs” from 2013 or read Simon Sinek’s book “Start with why”.
You must be thinking “what has Steve Jobs got to do with me?”. Personally, he has nothing to do with you, though you can learn a lot from his example.
Is your “why” in your business’s name?
Yes? No?
When you put your “why” in your (business) name, then your “why” becomes one with your logo, visual identity, and what you have actually got with it is a brutal base for your marketing, your logo, your brand, etc.
The example of this you can find right here in Be skilled – from the name to the logo.
My “why”, in this whole story, is that:
I want to change/challenge the way we are learning and growing.
Furthermore, I love to see people growing, how they are learning new skills and getting new knowledge which allows them to improve their business and private life right away. For me, there is nothing more beautiful than that.
The moment I have identified my “why”, I could have easily put that “why” into all visual parts of my business. That is the reason the logo of Be skilled is that little person jumping and bursting of joy because he/she is happy and skilled.
Naturally, I could just keep building on, and that is why the motto of Be skilled is “Knowledge is important, but skills are essential”.
- Of course, there is a catch in using Golden Circle and that is the order of the definition. It always goes from the inside out (why -> how -> what). When we define our why our how and what will follow naturally.
If we go the other way around from “what” are we going to do, “how” are we going to do and then we define our “why”, then we are lost… Because, in most cases, when we go that way, we either do not define our “why” or we do it wrong. Our “how” and “what” comes from our “why”, not the other way around. That way business can be good for some time, and then it just either fails or it feels lost and confusing.
Formula for successful business (and life) would be next:
WHY -> HOW -> WHAT
And in that exact order. Otherwise, it will all fall down eventually.
When I have defined my own “why” it was a lot easier to determine how will I do something and what exactly I want to do. When you do it in that order you will have a very nice “flow” of the things – like a river. Furthermore, when you are talking with your client, your client will feel your passion in your conversation and in your work – that will be the reason he/she will be coming back to you.
You know when someone says “You can really see he/she loves her job just by looking at them working”.
I would like to show you a few more examples of businesses which have put their “why” in their business name.
Both of them were participants in my Presentation skills and public speaking education which I have created for Makarska Razvojna Agencija MARA. The first example is in the nutrition field and the second one is in digital marketing.
New nutrition counseling has been opened in Makarska recently and is led by Tihana Pašalić.
Just from looking at the name of that nutrition counselling you can see Tihana’s “why”. While Tihana was just a participant in my education for Presentation skills and public speaking we have discussed (in the break) what will be the name of her nutrition counselling. She told me that she is not very clear and that she has a few options in mind. So, we went for a coffee where I have asked her questions like “why are you doing what you are doing, why nutrition, why counselling”. Tihana replied with a story from which we pulled out her “why”.
Tihana really, wholeheartedly cares about people living their better life.
And she is helping them do that by educating them about what they are consuming in their nutrition.
I was super happy when I saw that she did put her “why” in the name of her business – “Nutrition care by Tihana”.
Just by reading the name of her business, her clients know (already) that she cares about them, that she is not “just another nutritionist”, that she is different, that she really cares about them.
More about Tihana and her business you can read on her web page.
Another participant from the same education about Presentation skills and public speaking is at the beginning of his career. He was still looking for his “why” and trying to decide what his business will be about. The same as Tihana, I asked him how was he planning to name his business, and he replied that he has a few ideas already in his mind and was struggling to choose between them.
After a short discussion, it turned out that he really loves telling stories using his (digital) marketing tools and skills – photography and videos.
I was so happy when I saw that he did choose the (right) name for his business, the one that has his “why” in it.
Can you guess what it is?
digital.storyteller.ab
It is plain and simple + it contains his “why”. Beautiful.
You can find him on Instagram and Facebook under his name: digital.storyteller.ab and see for yourself what I am talking about here.
As for the Be skilled challenge, you can try to find your why and to name your business accordingly.
If you are struggling to choose the name for your business or your organisation, you can contact me at [email protected] or through Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
I would be more than happy to help you choose the right name for your business or organisation.
Remember, knowledge is important but skills are essential. Be skilled.
Glorija
Learning Designer