What motivates and inspires you – keeps you excited about work & life? Are you using that belief every day to achieve your dreams? Finding my why helped me to get closer to achieving my dreams.
Four years ago when I started my consulting business, I needed to answer this for myself. I realized that people needed to KNOW me, have a relationship with me before they would consider doing business with me. I want to know and trust vendors I hire – now that I am a vendor, my potential clients want the same thing. But how could I accomplish this if the first impression of me only came from my website?
Thanks to a colleague I met at ENTREfest (an entrepreneurial and business conference), I was introduced to Simon Sinek’s book, “Start with Why.” I devoured the book and watched the TED talk multiple times.
People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
Few people or organizations know why they do what they do.
If that is the truth – and I believe it to be – how do I define why I do marketing, and specifically healthcare marketing? I started applying the principals in the book to my career, how did I end up in health care, why did I stay in it and what was my purpose.
Here was the result – My Why. I believe marketing should educate, engage and empower the audience they are communicating with. I felt good about this piece of writing, one that a colleague would later call a manifesto.
Fast forward a year or so, I found Simon Sinek had started offering an online course to guide people to their why. I took the course – and quickly realized My Why wasn’t my why after all. It was My How.
Finding my why was challenging.
I needed to get to the root of what drives me, fulfills me, and gives me a sense of purpose. The course guided me to this:
To lead compassionately with an open-heart so that others succeed.
To lead compassionately with an open-heart so that others succeed.
Simply put: I use my talents to help others succeed or accomplish their goals. That is my authentic self. How I do that is through marketing with the principals of education, engagement, and empowerment. Now that I know this about myself, I understand why I’m compelled to help – whether it be my clients, friends, neighbors, family and even strangers if I hear them question something I can answer. I am a born connecter (to reference yet another popular business book, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.)
And it also explains why I am passionate about helping others find their unique why – and turn it into their personal brand or the foundation for their business branding. It’s what I do and have done for nearly 20 years.
Tell me about your why. Share it below or on my Facebook page. I look forward to hearing from you.
