Start your business for the right reasons. Video and guide
Start your business for the right reasons.
So why are you starting a business? Getting caught up in the cultural title wave surrounding business and startups is easy. We idolize innovators and want to become billionaires: modern-day gods and the new cultural icons. But maybe you don't want to be a titan of industry—maybe what you want is a dream lifestyle—a little bit of work, lots of money, global travel, and killer social media content. Or perhaps your ambitions are much more modest; you just want a consistent, reliable, and growing income, a lovely house to raise your kids in, and comfortable retirement.
The problem with the above answers is that they all center around money and things you want. There is nothing inherently wrong with money. Money is simply stored value. Life requires money—some people have lots of it, and some people have less, but everyone needs it to live. So there's nothing wrong with having a money motivation behind starting your business. But money shouldn't be the only reason you start a business. Similarly, the self-focused desire to have "the life that you want" is not a strong enough reason to start a business.
Victor Frankl was a psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor. His book Man's Search for Meaning is one of the greatest books in modern history. His conviction was that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. In Man's Search for Meaning, he states, "Sometimes the frustrated will to meaning is vicariously compensated for by a will to power, including the most primitive form of the will to power, the will to money."
Consider the following excerpt from Emily Esfahani Smith's book The Power of Meaning.
'In the late 80s and early 90s, there were several hundred studies about happiness published each year; by 2014, There were over 10,000 per year. It was an exciting shift for psychology and one that the public immediately responded to. Major media outlets clambered to cover the new research. Soon, entrepreneurs began monetizing it, founding startups and some programming apps to help ordinary people implement the field's findings. They were followed by a deluge of celebrities, personal coaches, and motivational speakers, all eager to share the gospel of happiness. According to Psychology Today, in 2000, the number of books published about happiness was a modest 50 in 2008 that number has skyrocketed to 4000. Of course, people have always been interested in the pursuit of happiness, but all that attention has made an impact since the mid-2000's; interest in happiness, as measured by Google searches, has tripled. "The shortcut to anything you want in life," writes author Rhonda Byrne In her best-selling 2006 book The Secret, "is to BE and FEEL happy now!"
And yet there's a major problem with the happiness frenzy: It has failed to deliver on its promise. The happiness industry continues to grow, and yet as a society, we are more miserable than ever. Indeed, social scientists have uncovered a sad irony—chasing happiness actually makes people unhappy."
If the reason you want to start a business is a desire for happiness through money or an ideal lifestyle, then the reality is you're going to be disappointed. However, if you set as your purpose something truly meaningful, something bigger than yourself, then you might find happiness along the way. You will also likely make a lot of money. Most of the truly successful entrepreneurs I've talked to didn't set out to make money; they set up to meet a need and serve a higher purpose.
The road ahead will be very challenging. In the early days, the challenge will be achieving the impossible on shoestring budgets. As you grow, the challenge will become hiring the right people, building the right culture, and knowing when to let people go. Someday if you're really successful, then you'll deal with problems like whether or not to sell your company or go public or how to transition leadership when you retire. You will never escape challenges as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is not the fast track to fame, fortune, and freedom. The actual path of entrepreneurship is a struggle to ask challenging questions, brave the unknown, fail consistently, and always try new things.
So what we were talking about is not a question of entrepreneurship; it's a question of human life. Whether you start a business, get a conventional job, or keep the job you have, what is the meaning you're pursuing as you walk that road? Even if you're seriously questioning whether or not the entrepreneurial path is right for you, I want to encourage you to go through this next exercise and answer the questions from the perspective of your potential future business as well as your life on the whole. Because even if you don't start a business, you still need to live a meaningful life.
Simon Sinek introduced the world to the golden circle through his famous TED talk and his book Start with Why. He discovered that the most inspirational leaders and the most enduring successful companies all have one thing in common.
Take a second to answer the questions below.
What does your business do? (Or will your business do)
This isn't a trick question. Undoubtedly you know what your company does or what it will do once you start it. Simply describe the product or service that your company offers (or will offer).
How does your business do what it does? (Or will do)
Another straightforward question. If you're thinking about starting a business, you have some thoughts about how your future product will be superior to other products on the market. What is your unique value proposition? What makes you different? How is your product different from the competition?
Why does your company do what it does? (Or will do)
This is very challenging for a lot of companies to answer. The underlying question here is, what's the company's core motivation?
If you don't know the answer to the last question, that's OK. We will address how to uncover the meaning in your business later on. The important thing now is to show how central the question of "why"—and the meaning it represents—is not only to your personal motivation but for the future of your brand development, your marketing, your customer support, your product, and every other aspect of your business.
Now take your three answers to the questions above and draw out a golden circle like the one below. Write your answers in the corresponding rings of the golden circle.
Your answers may change and evolve and that's good. If you don't currently have a why that's also OK, we will help you identify that later on. For now, take the golden circle with the answers that you wrote in it, and hang it somewhere you'll be able to see it regularly. We will reference this again as we move forward with different parts of your business development. But this is also important for you to see every day as you start and build your business. The only business worth building is a meaningful one.
Your "Why" and people's brains
Each ring of the golden circle corresponds to a part of the human brain. The neocortex is the brain's rational part and corresponds to the "What" circle. The neocortex focuses on tangible outcomes and the goal you're trying to achieve. The limbic system correlates to the "How" circle. Your limbic system is focused on process, what you do, the systems you use, the actions you take, and the habits you form. Lastly, we have the repetitian part of the brain, which correlates to the "why" circle. This part of your brain is focused on identity purpose, cause, self perception, your intrinsic motivation, and your worldview.
Using the golden circle as a guide for our communication and how we build our company is a powerful tool in influencing people's decisions. Focusing on the "Why" allows us to speak directly to the decision-making parts of people's brains and have the greatest chance of influencing their behavior.
Start your business for the right reasons. Video and guide
Start your business for the right reasons.
So why are you starting a business? Getting caught up in the cultural title wave surrounding business and startups is easy. We idolize innovators and want to become billionaires: modern-day gods and the new cultural icons. But maybe you don't want to be a titan of industry—maybe what you want is a dream lifestyle—a little bit of work, lots of money, global travel, and killer social media content. Or perhaps your ambitions are much more modest; you just want a consistent, reliable, and growing income, a lovely house to raise your kids in, and comfortable retirement.
The problem with the above answers is that they all center around money and things you want. There is nothing inherently wrong with money. Money is simply stored value. Life requires money—some people have lots of it, and some people have less, but everyone needs it to live. So there's nothing wrong with having a money motivation behind starting your business. But money shouldn't be the only reason you start a business. Similarly, the self-focused desire to have "the life that you want" is not a strong enough reason to start a business.
Victor Frankl was a psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor. His book Man's Search for Meaning is one of the greatest books in modern history. His conviction was that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. In Man's Search for Meaning, he states, "Sometimes the frustrated will to meaning is vicariously compensated for by a will to power, including the most primitive form of the will to power, the will to money."
Consider the following excerpt from Emily Esfahani Smith's book The Power of Meaning.
'In the late 80s and early 90s, there were several hundred studies about happiness published each year; by 2014, There were over 10,000 per year. It was an exciting shift for psychology and one that the public immediately responded to. Major media outlets clambered to cover the new research. Soon, entrepreneurs began monetizing it, founding startups and some programming apps to help ordinary people implement the field's findings. They were followed by a deluge of celebrities, personal coaches, and motivational speakers, all eager to share the gospel of happiness. According to Psychology Today, in 2000, the number of books published about happiness was a modest 50 in 2008 that number has skyrocketed to 4000. Of course, people have always been interested in the pursuit of happiness, but all that attention has made an impact since the mid-2000's; interest in happiness, as measured by Google searches, has tripled. "The shortcut to anything you want in life," writes author Rhonda Byrne In her best-selling 2006 book The Secret, "is to BE and FEEL happy now!"
And yet there's a major problem with the happiness frenzy: It has failed to deliver on its promise. The happiness industry continues to grow, and yet as a society, we are more miserable than ever. Indeed, social scientists have uncovered a sad irony—chasing happiness actually makes people unhappy."
If the reason you want to start a business is a desire for happiness through money or an ideal lifestyle, then the reality is you're going to be disappointed. However, if you set as your purpose something truly meaningful, something bigger than yourself, then you might find happiness along the way. You will also likely make a lot of money. Most of the truly successful entrepreneurs I've talked to didn't set out to make money; they set up to meet a need and serve a higher purpose.
The road ahead will be very challenging. In the early days, the challenge will be achieving the impossible on shoestring budgets. As you grow, the challenge will become hiring the right people, building the right culture, and knowing when to let people go. Someday if you're really successful, then you'll deal with problems like whether or not to sell your company or go public or how to transition leadership when you retire. You will never escape challenges as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is not the fast track to fame, fortune, and freedom. The actual path of entrepreneurship is a struggle to ask challenging questions, brave the unknown, fail consistently, and always try new things.
So what we were talking about is not a question of entrepreneurship; it's a question of human life. Whether you start a business, get a conventional job, or keep the job you have, what is the meaning you're pursuing as you walk that road? Even if you're seriously questioning whether or not the entrepreneurial path is right for you, I want to encourage you to go through this next exercise and answer the questions from the perspective of your potential future business as well as your life on the whole. Because even if you don't start a business, you still need to live a meaningful life.
Simon Sinek introduced the world to the golden circle through his famous TED talk and his book Start with Why. He discovered that the most inspirational leaders and the most enduring successful companies all have one thing in common.
Take a second to answer the questions below.
What does your business do? (Or will your business do)
This isn't a trick question. Undoubtedly you know what your company does or what it will do once you start it. Simply describe the product or service that your company offers (or will offer).
How does your business do what it does? (Or will do)
Another straightforward question. If you're thinking about starting a business, you have some thoughts about how your future product will be superior to other products on the market. What is your unique value proposition? What makes you different? How is your product different from the competition?
Why does your company do what it does? (Or will do)
This is very challenging for a lot of companies to answer. The underlying question here is, what's the company's core motivation?
If you don't know the answer to the last question, that's OK. We will address how to uncover the meaning in your business later on. The important thing now is to show how central the question of "why"—and the meaning it represents—is not only to your personal motivation but for the future of your brand development, your marketing, your customer support, your product, and every other aspect of your business.
Now take your three answers to the questions above and draw out a golden circle like the one below. Write your answers in the corresponding rings of the golden circle.
Your answers may change and evolve and that's good. If you don't currently have a why that's also OK, we will help you identify that later on. For now, take the golden circle with the answers that you wrote in it, and hang it somewhere you'll be able to see it regularly. We will reference this again as we move forward with different parts of your business development. But this is also important for you to see every day as you start and build your business. The only business worth building is a meaningful one.
Your "Why" and people's brains
Each ring of the golden circle corresponds to a part of the human brain. The neocortex is the brain's rational part and corresponds to the "What" circle. The neocortex focuses on tangible outcomes and the goal you're trying to achieve. The limbic system correlates to the "How" circle. Your limbic system is focused on process, what you do, the systems you use, the actions you take, and the habits you form. Lastly, we have the repetitian part of the brain, which correlates to the "why" circle. This part of your brain is focused on identity purpose, cause, self perception, your intrinsic motivation, and your worldview.
Using the golden circle as a guide for our communication and how we build our company is a powerful tool in influencing people's decisions. Focusing on the "Why" allows us to speak directly to the decision-making parts of people's brains and have the greatest chance of influencing their behavior.
