Finding your why is an advice that you most likely have seen or heard being thrown around a lot of times when it comes to businesses. The thing is, not everyone tells you how to do it. This time, Bill Caskey gets specific and lists down five questions that you should be asking yourself in order to find your “why.” With each question, he provides practical and concise reasons why it’s necessary to be able to give an answer which will ultimately lead you to discover your “why.” He also talks about what your primary motivator should be when starting your business and why declaring your uniqueness is such an important step.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Finding Your Why

We’re going to talk about something that you’ve heard about quite often over the last few years. The idea of “what is your why?” Simon Sinek did a TED Talk years ago. It’s got 30 some million looks and views. He talked about how important it is for companies but individuals too to understand why you do what you do. Why are you in business? Not just what do you do but why do you do it. I want to talk about that on this episode.

I did a blog on my why’s, “Why do I do what I do?” I thought it would be helpful for you not just to know my why’s of being in business, but also give you a little bit of permission to think a little bit deeper rather than making money. That’s why I do what I do, or to provide for my children and family.

Those are all noble things, but to me, it’s got to be the work. The work has to be the primary motivator. The secondary motivators are what you get from work like rewards, benefits, money, fame, fortune, etc.

Finding Your Why: The work has to be your primary motivator. The secondary motivators are what you get from the work.

In this episode, I wanted to come back and give you a little mini-framework and a handful of things that might be able to help you. It’s a good time to do this to get back to the basics, “Why do you do what you do? “If you can communicate that effectively through the content that you produce or even the stories you tell when you’re face-to-face or on a virtual call with potential clients, it’s an important element of declaring your uniqueness in this world.

We all have very different why’s. It’s not like they’re going to entertain three vendors and you all three are going to have exactly the same why’s because these are very personal.

After I did that episode, I had several emails from people who said, “Good for you. I understand your why, but how do I come up with mine?” I’ve got five things here – five questions I would like to ask you.

If you want to take a little time in between each, pause, reflect on it, see if you can document, and write down some things that come to mind as I ask the question. That would be very helpful.

1. “What is the pain in the market that your solution fixes or that you fix that brings out the emotion in you?”It’s not just the pain that they have. It’s ‘what problem do you solve’ that brings out your emotion and feeling where you almost become ignited by the solution that a person would get from you, implement in their business, call you back a year later and say, “Carolyn, you’re not going to believe what this solution has done for us?” What kind of emotion comes to you when you get that call or when you assess that? That’s number one. Not just the pain. This is not a messaging formula. This is, what is it that you fix that ignites you?

2.   “Who is the common enemy?

Is it a person that’s the common enemy or is it a thing?” Usually, in this case, it will be a thing like status quo or average results. What are you and your customer up against? It could be something the customer has in their mind about a possibility of solving the problem or there’s no better thing out there. It could be a belief set.

You’ve got to have some enemy so that you can face up to the enemy with the prospect. In our business, it’s the acceptance of average. It’s the acceptance of, “This is who I am. This is what I do. There’s no way I can get better results.” It’s that toleration of the average that is our biggest enemy.

I have to line up with my potential client or client and face up to every day. Every great cause has an enemy either a person, group of people, or thing that works against them. You’ve got to find out, “What is the enemy you’re helping them battle?”

3. “What is your personal promise to them that if they follow your advice and solution, they will achieve?”

What can you promise them?” This is not just a promise that comes out of nowhere. This could be a promise that comes as a result of you being inquisitive as to their problems, pains, where they want to go, their goals or dreams, which we always get and want you to ask.

Once you know that, where are you taking them? What’s the path of success? What’s the roadmap to help them get from where they are to where they want to be with your help along the way? What’s the personal promise to them if they follow you? You’ve got to have that. That’s part of your why, “I promise that if you do what I say, do it in the way and the order I say it, this is what will happen.”

4. I want you to describe your ideal client in detail.

What are their dilemmas? What are their untenable circumstances? What can they not live with or continue to live with? What do they face whether they know it or not?

I always suggest to my clients to write it out. Write a little mini-story, maybe 3 or 4 paragraphs. You surely know a lot about their lives, what they face, what they’re up against, what kinds of problems and challenges they have. Write it down. Be descriptive.

It’s almost like this is a teaser for a movie. When you see a teaser at the theater, the teaser either grabs you, and you say, “I have to see this.” Most of them don’t grab me. Most of them are clips from the actual movie.

They don’t carve a theme very well. As you describe your ideal client in detail, it will become very clear who you want to work with. That is your ideal client, who faces these dilemmas and problems, wants to get out of them and get to a clear future.

Finding Your Why: What attracted you to the business you’re in now is very different from what attracted you to the business years ago.

5.  You and your preferences, “What kind of client are you unwilling to accept?”

Not all clients are created equal, even if they meet your demographic or psychographic requirements. What are some deal killers that would cause you to leave the process or run away from a prospective client? What will you not accept as you work with somebody?

The clearer you can be about what those yellow or red flags are, the clearer you are about why you’re there, who you want to work with, who you’re willing to accept, and who you’re not willing to accept. As you answer these questions, your why becomes a lot clearer to you.

If you’re in the consulting business and you help companies grow their business from $10 million to $50 million, that becomes a little bit easier of a why. If you’re in the telecom business and you help people solve big problems so that they can serve their customers better, then your why might require a little digging, but it’s still there.

Think about why you do what you do.

What attracted you to the business in the first place? What has kept you in the business in the long run?” What attracted you to the business you’re in is very different than what has happened to you as you’ve been in the business for 5, 7, or 10 years. That’s okay. The why’s can change in our lives as we get older and more mature, although people around me would doubt that. As we get older, more seasoned, and clearer then our ‘why’s’ can change. Take 15 to 20 minutes. Write those five questions down.

I hope that helps. You can go to BillCaskey.com if you want to know more.