Why did you start your business?
Have you ever stopped to write this out - or even fully flesh out your answer?
And no, the answer probably isn’t for more money, flexibility, and freedom, because let’s be real - it can take years to get to that point in your business.
Today, I’m going to take you through why discovering your why can be one of the most powerful investments you can make in your own business and I’ll even give you the questions to ask yourself to find your answer.
Why did you start your business?
Have you ever stopped to write this out - or even fully flesh out your answer?
And no, the answer probably isn’t for more money, flexibility, and freedom, because let’s be real - it can take years to get to that point in your business.
Today, I’m going to take you through why discovering your why can be one of the most powerful investments you can make in your own business and I’ll even give you the questions to ask yourself to find your answer.
Today. I'm going to be completely honest with you. Have, did you notice that maybe, maybe not that I was gone last week? Well, this last week, this last month, really not even week has been a bit insane for me with client work. I have two very specific clients going through massive shifts in their own business, which is a great thing for them, but the late nights and the long hours could be really draining. If I wasn't focused on one specific thing, why I do what I do now in today's episode, I'm gonna talk a lot about why and how it impacts your business, helps it grow and makes it far easier to go through these tough seasons. You're listening to the captain coder podcast each week. I take you through actionable strategies that can help you grow your online business. I'm your host, Marisa VanSkiver, AKA captain coder. Now why, why do you own a business? What is it that made you start your own business? There are so many reasons why people start their own businesses. Co had a lot to do with it. There's a huge influx over the last couple of years and people starting their business. And it all has boiled down to one thing. Many of us is because we wanted flexibility and freedom. We wanted to create a business that served us instead of a nine to five. That didn't, I wanna be honest. When I worked for other people, I really felt like I was at the mercy of what they wanted me to do and how they wanted me to do it. I was at the mercy of the hours that they wanted me to work and even the salary they were willing to provide me for me personally, I felt like there wasn't a way for me to really grow within a box, but I've also been freelancing on and off since I was 18. So I had a taste of this. I kind of knew that I wanted to build something, but honestly, I lacked a conviction in myself and my skills for a long time until I was about 29. And I just went for it. And I joined my first startup as an entrepreneur. But your why has to be about more than this. It has to be about more than just wanting flexibility and freedom, because what can end up happening very quickly is that you just create your own job. And while that can be better than having a boss, um, creating your own job is not why you started a business, knowing what you wanted when you left and started your own business is great. But if you wanna be able to connect with the humans that will be buying from you, you need to dig a little deeper. Why do you do what you do now? Here's the thing. You wanna be able to connect with people with this? Why, why matters? Because people care about your, why your customers care about why you're in business. Even if they don't consciously know it, they care. It's a lot easier to connect with another human being in your marketing, in your advertising, and then just overall through your customer service and how you show up, how your employees show up when your, why is clearly defined. When someone asks, why you own a business, which you probably get on a pretty regular basis, especially if you're like me and you don't have a lot of entrepreneurial friends, they wanna know, okay, well, why are you crazy enough to do this? Why would you not just work a day job where it's far easier to just show up and get these things called paid days off? Which I have been an entrepreneur now for like five years. I don't remember what those were like, but you know, a lot of people ask, why would you not just have a job when someone asks you, why you started your own business? Your answer is probably pretty similar to what I said a few minutes ago. You wanted freedom. You wanted be able to be in control of your own DEC career and destiny. Right? Okay. So I've been watching a lot of Lord the rings and house of the dragons. So yes, destiny. It's a little fantastical. I'm sorry, influences, but it's not about building freedom. It's not about, you know, having more financial control, which honestly it's not even like it should <laugh> wow. I'm not really on it today. It needs to be more about what drives you. The finances, the freedom, all of that is nice. But why do you do precisely what you do? What is it that drives you every day to get up and work on Mondays? What is it that is your impetus for getting out of bed and trying to grow your business? Cuz I can bet you money. That it is more about money. Now, if you're sitting here wondering and going, wow. Um, the only why that I can think of is to provide for my family or to have the freedom, to be with my kids and all of that stuff. And all of that stuff is important. I'm not saying that it's not, I'm not saying that financial needs cannot be a part of your why, but if you haven't yet, I highly recommend you go read or listen to Simon. Sinex start with why now throughout this fabulous book, like really I could listen to it over and over again. He goes through the reason you should and how to discover your why. And that why is the thing that drives your business? It's not about the founder either. Even if you are a so entrepreneur and you are the only person in your business, this ain't about you, honey. It's about why your business exists and who you serve. Now his mantra throughout the book is people don't buy what you do. They buy, why you do it. I've also recommended on my podcast, through my blog. I make my students read it at Wichita state. Um, mark, Shafer's the marketing rebellion. And it's all about human focused marketing. Now, if you haven't read that either, that's another good reason to kind of take a step back and remember that you're connecting with the humans, buying your services. There is somebody on the other end of that decision and you never need to connect with them. You need to give them a glimpse, just a glimpse of humanity because the bar is pretty low with that in business these days and knowing your why can be really impactful to making that human connection. When you know why you're doing what you're doing, it helps your customers connect with your business better and not just your business, but with you. It brings back that human touch and your marketing and it helps your customers feel seen because the why should be partially about them. Now, to me, your why doesn't just have to be about making more sales and gaining more customers. That is a great benefit of really digging in and finding your why, but it can provide another point of value too. It's about empowering your employees and even yourself to continue to show up even on the hardest days now, as I've gone through the last, you know, month or so of crazy deadlines, working myself and my junior developer into some late night hours to stay ahead of the game. I've had to remember why I do what I do. This, this isn't just about money for me. In fact, honestly it rarely is about money. That's just like a nice benefit that I can, you know, maybe buy some new furniture for my living room. My, why is honestly about providing the kind of service that most of my customers haven't ever gotten from a web developer and believe me, I've heard it all, but more than that, it's about helping them grow their own businesses and giving them control over their own marketing throughout the life of my business. I wanna help my customers no matter what kind of business they own to have more ownership of their sales process, their brand story and their impact that by the way, is literally from my brand guide. I include my why at the beginning of my own brand guide. So I remember when I'm marketing to infuse my marketing with that. Why now, when I can focus on that, why? And if I can get better about sharing it with my team, it is far easier to work within these temporary tough timelines to ensure our customers are succeeding and look, believe me, we don't plan for these kind of deadlines to be a long term thing, but sometimes temporary circumstances require a bit of sacrifice. And so having that, why and really having that infused throughout your business, not only helps you connect to your customers. Yes, but it helps your employees understand why you're asking them to do what you're asking them to do. And then today is world where it is incredibly hard to find good employees, people that show up and care about your business, even 50%, the way that you care. Because the other thing that I keep hearing from people is it's really, really hard to find employees, people that are looking for work because the market is just so difficult right now, this kind of stuff, your why, if you really infuse that into your business, it can help you in the hiring process too. Now, if you're wondering, okay, this is all great. How do I dig deep and find my own? Why now? Getting to mind took time. And honestly, what I did was maybe a little different. Um, I was listening to Simon Sinek, start with why when I was driving to and from Kansas city to go visit a friend and I just sat there and I thought through it. And then when I got back, I did, I asked myself a few questions. So I want you to pause the podcast, go grab a notebook, get at your laptop, get out your notes, app, whatever you've got available to you. And I want you to write down answers to the following questions. Number one, what inspired your business idea? Why, why did you originally decide to start this business? What inspired your business idea from the beginning? Number two, what problem do you solve for your customers? What is it that you do to help them? And it's all about solving problems. It's not the service you provide. It's about what problem that service solves. Number three, what's unique about your business? What is it that you do? That's different from everybody else? For me, I knew that my cus my business was unique in the level of customer service. It provided that is not something that a lot of web developers do. Not something that a lot of web agencies even do. There's a lot of other things, but that was the number one thing that was unique about my business. So what's the number one thing that's unique about yours? Number four. Why do you love doing what you do? This is a really important question. Why do you love doing this? Because there are going to be days when you forget and you ask yourself what the F am I doing right now? Why am I going through this? So you need to remember why you love doing it on your last question. What do your customers say over and over again about working with your business? That last question is actually the most important, your in your, why needs to be driven by your, your own internal factors? Yes. And not just the founder's internal factors, but the businesses internal factors, but it should also be driven by your customer experience. Now, when I sat down and I reworked my brand story a few months ago and I created a new brand guide and I went through and really wrote down my why it was far easier to articulate all of this, because it was a thing that I'd heard from my own clients over and over again. They wanted control over their sales, over their brand story, over how they showed up online. But they also appreciated that I actually cared about all of that. I wasn't just there to do the things they told me to do, but I was going to help them discover all of that. Dig deep into why we're doing what we're doing and help provide a strategic solution instead of, Hey, here's some code, this is on your website now. Like it's about more than that for me. And that is incredibly rare in my industry. And that's why my customers love working with me. So think about those things about what your customers say over and over again about working with you, because you're going to find what's unique about your business. You're going to find the problem you solve. You're going to find the things that even inspired you from the beginning. You have to talk to your customers or at least reflect on what your customers have said to really discover your why now, finding your own. Why can be a powerful tool in your business? Not only can it influence your marketing and help you connect better with your ideal customer, but can also assist you when things get hard. Now, if anybody has ever told you that owning a business was the easy choice. Um, you probably should stop reading or listening to them. Just, just now. Like just no, nothing about owning a business is easy. This shit is tough. When you have a purpose that drives you though, it makes everything easier. Now show up for your purpose and for your customers. And you'll be amazed at what can start happening. Thank you all for tuning in to our show this week to catch more captain coder, you can subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app. Now, if you have any questions or you wanna learn more about digital marketing and how it can help grow your online business, follow us on Instagram@captaincoder or visit us online at captcoder.com. Can't wait to talk to you all again next week.