Do you know your WHY?
I’m not going to lie. I fell into a serious funk last week. It stemmed from a conversation I had with a prospect, and the way that it ended had me all up in my head.
A potential client asked if we could talk on a Saturday. I told him that was no problem, and I set aside an hour out of my weekend to accommodate his schedule. Not something that I do every day, but I decided to make an exception this time.
What happened next? After I’d made an exception for him and took a call on the weekend, he flaked out when it came time for our follow-up call. And it left me in a tailspin of aggravation.
Now, honestly, it wasn’t the first time something like that happened to me. I’ve been in business a long time, and no-shows on follow-up calls happen to the best of us. It probably shouldn’t have fazed me the way it did.
(Maybe it was because I accommodated him on a weekend, and he ended up disrespecting my time, which is something I value above all else!)
But what can I say? It triggered me big-time. I felt like I was cruising down the highway at 75 miles per hour only to suddenly crash into a wall.
Everyone has their moments. You never know what might trip your trigger and send you off to “funkytown.” The key is getting back to yourself and back on the road, and as soon as you can.
So what did I do to bust out of that downward spiral? I shifted my attention. I put myself into motion. And I turned my focus to my favorite project: My online sales course that I’m creating.
I looked past my momentary aggravation and got back to the driving force behind my business, my purpose, and my passion. I turned my attention to the reason WHY I do what I do in my business, and I let myself remember all the impact that I create in the world doing what I love.
And just like that, I was BACK in the game.
Turns out that remembering WHY I started this business, The Pitch Queen, in the first place was the sure-fire cure for the weekend funk.
Helping you dodge the day-to-day nuisances of running a business is just one of the ways that your WHY is so significant. If you embrace your purpose, your passion, and the reason WHY you do what you do, it’ll carry you through anything. From minor irritations to major rejections.
Your WHY is what makes your business worth it. It’s the key to your staying power, your attitude, and your success.
How does your WHY carry the day? Let’s count the ways!
It helps you stay focused. Let’s say you want to go from San Diego to New York. You enter your destination into your GPS, and it gives you directions. In business, there’s also a point A and a point B. Think of your WHY as the internal GPS that keeps you from veering off course for too long. (That’s just what it did for me when I got off course this past week!)
It reminds you of your passion for what you do. Right now I’m teaching a sales course that I’ve created. My students and I meet every Monday, and it’s the highlight of my week. I could teach for hours without breaking a sweat. Where does that boundless energy come from? When I’m teaching that class, I’m fully immersed in my mission. My WHY is running the show. And I love every minute of it.
It fuels your sales mindset. Sales calls have their not-so-great moments, even for me. Someone stands you up, wastes your time, or flakes out on you. There are days when you don’t think you could listen to one more indecisive, non-committal person.
But if you can transition from indulging in aggravation to immersing yourself in service and appreciation, your energy shifts. When you step back and focus on your overreaching passion, the momentary aggravation melts away. This works wonders not only for your attitude but also for your entrepreneurial sales mindset.
It helps you fight through fear (and win). Sometimes, my biggest rejections and most devastating NOs come back to haunt me, just like they do with anyone. But if you can turn your attention to your WHY, you can kick fear to the curb super-fast. For me, that means remembering that I help people transform their sales mindset, have powerful sales conversations, and close more deals with ease. That’s a lot more powerful than any lingering doubts or fears that might cross my mind, isn’t it?
Being in business is challenging enough on its own. If your WHY isn’t strong enough to keep you focused, clear-minded, and fearless, you just might decide to call the whole thing off.
But if it IS strong enough, no matter what comes up, you’ll be unstoppable.
When you’re passionate about WHAT you do, your purpose emerges. When that passion and purpose work together, they unveil your WHY. And passion, purpose and WHY together shape your legacy.
Pretty heavy stuff, right? But the truth is that we all need passion and purpose in our lives. If you’re a mission-driven entrepreneur, your passion and purpose literally IS your business. And the WHY of it is the centerpiece of it all.
I started taking this WHY thing seriously about a year ago, shortly after the demise of my last business, FITzee Foods. I’d had so many successes and failures in that business, and I was looking for a common thread. I knew there was a reason why I kept coming back to entrepreneurship, no matter how many ups or downs I had.
What I found was that my purpose was to help people learn to love selling. Selling isn’t sleazy. It’s not pushy. Selling is SERVING. It’s sharing your gifts and changing people’s lives. That was my true calling. And it was time to step into it with confidence.
Not only did I discover that this was my purpose, but also that I’m crazy passionate about it! So at long last, it all fit together.
Your WHY and your passion drive your purpose. It’s this circle that has no beginning or end, but it keeps moving you forward, helping you make a significant impact. And leave behind a rich legacy.
And one more thing: when you’ve got all three of these pieces working for you, it’s going to work wonders for your sales, too! Nothing is more attractive to buyers than someone who walks the talk and lives their passion. That’s what you can create when you put your ultimate WHY in charge.
If you want to succeed in business, you have to be driven by something more than the desire for freedom and flexibility. That thing you do has to be about more than paying the bills. It has to come from your heart and soul more than anywhere else.
It takes passion, purpose, and drive to keep going when business life gets rough (and believe me, it does). The reason WHY you do what you do is the difference between living your dreams and being just another “wantrepreneur.”
What if you’re still lost on the road to your passion and purpose, though? If that WHY has been eluding up to this point, I’ve got something that’ll help you get clear on what really drives you.
My brand new checklist, “5 Steps To Your Ultimate WHY,” will help you discover your purpose, ignite your passion, and lead you to the mission you’ve been searching for.
This checklist is going to help you get to the heart of what you do, find your strengths, and underscore your value. From there, it’ll help you figure out what drives you the most. Your ultimate vision. The reason WHY you do what you do. And the thing that’ll keep you inspired, focused, and steady even when the road gets rough.
Your purpose, passion, and your WHY are waiting! Watch this video and click HERE and discover them for yourself!
