Written by: Paul Arnold, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
This article explores the importance of understanding your WHY in your business. By staying connected with your purpose, it will help you succeed in both business and life. This article also gives the top four ways to manifest your dream business!
Mindset is everything
You are what you think you are, you earn what you think you should earn, and you will become what you think you will become. The money you earn right now is exactly what you should be earning right now. You will also earn exactly what you think you will earn in the future. Your current and future state of being is manifested in your head and will be determined by your thoughts, feelings and desires for your future life. Your mindset is critical to determine your success in life.
Success in life is not predetermined by the environment you are born into. If you want to change or improve your life, you have the power to do so. You can condition your mind to achieve your desired goals in life. It is not sufficient to say you want to succeed. You must believe 100% you will become successful. You must be specific in what you want to accomplish and what you want to earn in life. Once you have specific goals, you can put your thoughts into action to achieve them.
Do you want to have $100,000, $1M, $10M, $100M, or $1B? You create your life based on your beliefs and desires. If you don’t believe and desire wealth, you will not become wealthy. If you don’t care about success, you will not achieve it. If you only want to coast through life and just get by, then the universe may drain you of your resources. The universe gives wealth to those that want and desire it.
Visionary Billionaires such as SteveJobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates share a strong life purpose in carrying out a vision they created for their business. They have all had challenges in developing their businesses, but they had the resiliency and growth mindset to never give up and carry their vision to its ultimate and unlimited potential.
Your business why
Simon Sinek clearly explained the importance in his book to Start with Why for any business to be successful. Most marketing strategies are focused on the WHAT and HOW of a business. The WHAT is the function whereas the HOW is the feature or benefit of the business. The most successful businesses have a strong WHY, which relates to your Vision statement. Simon explained this concept in his 2014 Ted Talk entitled How Great Leaders Inspire Action. This video is currently the third most popular Ted Talks of all time with 52M+ YouTube views.
Sinek illustrates this concept as a golden circle, much like an archery target with three circles. The outside circle is WHAT, as in what the business does. This may include the mechanics or operations of the business. The middle circle as HOW which refers to the features and benefits of the business. The bulls ‘eye in the circle is WHY. WHY is the vision of your product; it is the element that will inspire your customer to purchase your service based on a higher mission that you have for your business!
Sinek gives the example of the innovation of Apple and its founder Steve Jobs. What makes Apple different is that they start with WHY, in the way they market their company. Apple’s WHY is meant to be disruptive and challenge the status quo through innovation. Products have a beautiful design and are user-friendly. “Apple only happens to make computers” Sinek explained. By starting with WHY, product users are given a strong call to action to purchase Apple products. Without a strong WHY, consumers will not be motivated to purchase your product or service because it just doesn’t feel right.
One may also think of Elon Musk as a man with a strong vision. Not only does he make innovative electric cars and trucks, but also an ambitious space program. He managed to combine his innovative vision by sending a Tesla car into space, complete with astronaut manikin. His innovation inspires Tesla customers and investors along for the exploration and journey of his unique vision. He even created his own cryptocurrency, known as Dogecoin.
One of the great Canadian masters of disruption is Bruce Linton, founder of Canopy Growth Corporation (NYSE: WEED). Bruce saw a unique trend in the Canadian cannabis industry with loosening government restrictions on the use of marijuana. Bruce managed to create a $20B company by focusing on how cannabis is changing peoples’ lives suffering from Parkinson’s disease or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Bruce managed to inspire $5B investment by Constellation Beverages and an endorsement of Snoop Dog under the Tweed brand. Sharing the same fate of Steve Jobs, Bruce was eventually terminated by management. The company is now worth $8B in market capitalization.
Bruce states that as entrepreneurs, “if you know when public policies are going to change, you can make a lot of money”. His current interests include mind altering natural products that have medicinal benefits. What are going to be the rules in 5 or 10 years? Will they be any different? Is there an opportunity to make money by taking advantage of changes in governmental policies?
What is your passion?
What are you deeply passionate about? What sets your soul on fire? Happiness for you may be to get married and have a family. It could be to travel and see the world. It could be to seek knowledge, study or improve yourself through personal development. It may be to create art, make music, learn to play guitar, sing in a choir or express yourself through dance or performance art. Whatever will bring you happiness, you should proactively search for these things you desire in life. By seeking your passions, the Universe will attract them into your life.
Once you have a wide view of the life you want, you need to make specific goals and take actions to achieve it. You can’t just say, “I want to be rich and have more free time”. You need to be specific. It may be to create a specific business or earn a specific amount of money by a set time. Once you have a specific goal and a vision, you can take the right action to achieve it. Establish daily affirmations and visualization habits to work towards your goal.
If you create a vision without action, you are creating a delusion. Just as you would use a recipe to bake a cake, you will have a predictable outcome. If you want to be happy, you should make other people happy. Make your list on how you want to leave your mark on the planet. You need to specifically figure out what you want in life. Clarity is important because it leads to the power of manifestation. If your WHY is big enough and you have a desired reason to achieve, then the HOW will eventually come to you.
If you know what you want, and why you want it, then why don’t you have it? The reason is that we are creatures of habit based on the way we were raised and conditioned by society.You must map out your path and take the leap to achieve it. You need a burning desire to achieve your abundance goal in life.If you follow your passion, and commit your plan into action, the Universe will provide you with the abundance you desire.
Stay true to your personal why
You can visualize your personal why and create your vision or dream board to achieve your ideal life. As in life, if you have no plan for your business, you risk going off course or being distracted into something else. The distractions you face may not align with your personal values. Stay true to yourself and try not to cut corners.
If you fall of the rails from your desired goal, change the direction of your life to get yourself back on track. If you are losing sleep at night because you are not in alignment with your goals, take time to re-examine your life. Look in the mirror or in your children’s eyes to realize if you are on the right course.
One way to attract and manifest the life you want is by creating a vision board. This will allow you to visualize your dreams and desires and reinforce them every day. By achieving your dreams and goals in life, you can achieve the highest vibration in life of love, peace and gratitude. By creating a visual representation of your personal desires, you invite the universe to manifest your life vision. You should also consider completing your wheel of life. A wheel of life originated in Buddhism and is an exercise where you rate all aspects of your life including Business/Career, Finance/Wealth, Health/Fitness, Social/Friends, Family, Romance/Love, Recreation/Fun, Contribution/Legacy, Personal Growth, Spiritual, and Self Image. Some or all these categories are included around your wheel. If you rate each on a scale of 1-10, you can see how round your wheel is. If there are large deficiencies in your wheel, your life will have a bumpy ride.
Here are four steps to manifest your dream business:
1. Set Clear Goals and Intentions:
You need to be crystal clear on exactly what you want.
Set concrete goals and intentions for your business. This can consist of three things:
a. How much do you want to make in your business each month?
b. How many clients do you want to work with each month? What are those clients like?
c. What do you want to feel like in your business?
2. Follow your Intuition:
Your intuition is what knows the best path forward despite what your conscious mind and ego may think. You want to spend time on the things that feel good to you. By doing things that you enjoy, you will be on the path of least resistance. One of the best ways to tap into your intuition is through meditation. Take 10-15 minutes each day in a quiet area to center yourself and focus on your breathing. Be open to any guidance that you receive in your thoughts. Make a list of three things that will feel good to accomplish for the day that excites and inspires you.
3. Stay in a High Vibration:
Energy is important to manifesting your goals. You want to keep your energy as high as possible during the day. The easiest way to do this is by focusing on tasks that you love to do. You may love social media posts, photography or creating content. Try limiting the tasks that you don’t enjoy, such as bookkeeping or sales. For those that love numbers and sales, it could be the exact opposite time blocking.
4. Work on Money Mindset:
If you are not earning the amount of money you desire in your business, it may be because you have some limiting money beliefs. The good news is that this can be improved. You should read the money mindset bible “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. There are other effective mindset books by Bob Proctor such as “You Were Born Rich” “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki or “Wealth Barber”by David Chitlon. If you are currently struggling with debt, read “Debt-Free Forever” by Gail Vaz-Oxlade. These books will help shift how you think about, talk about and approach money.
To learn about more 20 important business principles, order Business Strategy Success Principles at www.BusinessStrategyPrinciples.com. Also available through Amazon and Morgan James Publishing.
Paul Arnold, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Paul Arnold published his first book Business Strategy Success Principles, to help business owners and entrepreneurs have an action plans to grow their businesses and enjoy and easier life. Paul has started six businesses over the past 14 years, with 30 years in sales and marketing. He is a business strategy coach and runs a book writing workshop, Adapt and Overcome Innovation and Change Strategy Summit.
