Common business advice that is pretty sound: know why you’re doing what you do.
The famous TED talk about this: Start With Why by Simon Sinek.
There are two types of ‘why’ that get conflated, though, and I think it’s useful to prise them apart.
- Why would my customers want what I’m doing
- Why do I want to do what I’m doing
Part of what I think Sinek is getting at in his talk is that the most powerful campaigns are the ones where these 2 ‘why’s are the same. When customers want what you’re doing because they see and can relate to why you’re doing what you’re doing.
And that the more you show your personality and your values and so on in your marketing and brand, the more this will resonate and draw the best customers to you.
But these two ‘why’s don’t always match up, and that’s OK. It’s still worth taking some time to figure out why you care about what you’re doing, and why customers care about what you’re doing, even if the two answers are different. The former will help you keep making progress on your business, and the latter will help you help more people & sell more stuff!
