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The Counterpart To “What’s Your Why” That Nobody Talks About

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If you’ve ever studied or listened to anyone talk about entrepreneurship and business, you have most likely at some point been told to identify “your why”. “What’s your why” they will tell you, or “get clear on your why”. Why do you want to accomplish what you are seeking to accomplish, why do you want to make a certain amount of money, why do you want to be in a certain niche and on and on. Over the years I have spent countless hours, journaling sessions, meditations and conversations on identifying the specifics of my why.

Make no mistake, I fully agree on the importance of being clear on all the reasons why, because the bottom line is, if you don’t know the why, then what the heck is the point? But after years of dissecting and analyzing my why, and hearing over and over from the people I admire how important identifying the “why” is, I had an awakening that opened an entirely untapped purpose for my vision. 

While climbing the stair master at the gym searching the internet for some spiritual and mental nutrients, a suggested video popped up. As content from someone I regularly follow, I was surprised I hadn’t seen this one before and decided it would be a good listen whilst sweating it out on the stairs.

Initially the video began like many others, speaking of having success and then having a realization of the fact that along the way to achieving all the things you dream of, you either lose the why, or you come to realize, you never identified it in the first place and all along all you had was a nebulous ideal of success. The video began to speak specifically about the impact this particular business was making on people, their community and their followers.

As I climbed, I realized, all this time I had been focusing so intricately on the details of “My Why” I had forgotten an equally and arguably more important piece; “The Who”. I had spent so much time focusing on detailing “the why” that somewhere along the way “The Who” got lost in the sauce. You can imagine the revelation of disconnect I had when I realized that so much of my why was to make an impact, to add value, to empower and inspire, but I hadn’t identified “the who”. And without “the who” there is no impact to make, no value to add, and no one to empower or inspire.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain

I began to think about everything down to my trivial social media posts. There were so many elements of my business that I would consciously do for “the why” of my success, all while entirely ignoring WHO I was doing it for. 

I knew “why” it was important to create content for social media. And “why” it was important to do the tasks I wasn’t inspired to do. I knew “why” I was working so hard to create a company, to create time freedom and financial freedom for myself and my team. And “why” I should be willing to work harder than anyone else.

Knowing that I should be posting social media content because It will increase my engagement but the whole time worrying more about the judgement of others or people who know me, rather than who it would help, who would enjoy it and relate to it. Creating music, and programs and services to create cashflow for the business, ignoring who it would empower, inspire, and who’s career and life it could change. 

So often I had heard business people and entrepreneur’s talk about the vital importance of adding value not just making money. But I could never fully grasp the concept of that because my sole focus was on the why. And from a profits standpoint, it never made much sense to me why I should give away free content, products or services when my business needed to make a profit.

I realized that is an unattainable concept if you are not equally focused on “the who”. 

The fact of the matter is that having a “why” is the blood to the life of your business. It is a driving force that keeps you motivated, clear, and focused on the end goal. But the who is even greater. It gives your product, or company or business purpose. It requires emotional engagement, personal investment, and a clear understanding of who. Who your customers are that you will impact, who your listeners or clients or fans or followers are. Not just why your business needs them, but WHO are they really. They are not numbers or dollar signs or bars on a graph. They are fathers and mothers using your product to make their job as parents or home owners easier, they are young entrepreneurs who need your coaching to learn from your experience, they are fans who follow you because they admire your confidence and self love and your content helps them push a little harder. Yes, the why is the blood to your business, but the who is quite literally the heart. And without the heart to pump life into the veins of your business, all you have is a bag of cold, sticky red stuff. 

Alaura Lovelight is a recording artist, writer and host of 'The Alaura Show' on New Jersey Television. Blending her passion for music and writing with a profound understanding of conscious creativity her new Youtube Series The Conscious Creative is set to launch in January 2024. As a Conscious Creative Expert, Alaura guides others through her Mindful Creative Coaching Program on a transformative journey to unlock their highest creative potential through the synergy of science and spirituality. Her insightful coaching empowers individuals to harness mindfulness and willingness in an effort to awaken the creative within. Immerse yourself in the wisdom of conscious creativity by downloading her latest book, "The Mindful Creative," accompanied by the enriching workbook, "The Willing Creative." Explore the deepest understandings of art, science, spirituality and self-discovery with Alaura Lovelight in a collective awakening to illuminate the path to conscious and impactful creativity.

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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altering business approach
Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

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Creating legal boundaries
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The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

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Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

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How to be motivated
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Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

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Success Advice

10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind

The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy

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micro financial habits
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You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)

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