How can you crystallise the brilliance of your business? Boost Juice founder Janine Allis has five fantastic tips for finding the ‘why’ in your business.
“Businesses never know when they are going to get hit so it’s important to find a way distinguish your business and stand out from the crowd. It’s not just about what you do or how you do it. It’s the why that sets your business apart and once you find the emotional driver – the why factor – the rest will follow.”
Vistaprint Australia has teamed up with the former Shark Tank investor, Janine Allis, to launch ‘Why Factor’. The campaign is set to help small businesses understand what makes their business unique and how to use it to their advantage.
Melissa Haywood, head of Vistaprint Australia, says “Small businesses are vital to the Australian economy but with so many pressures, many don’t drill into what makes them different from their competitors.”
Janine Allis’ 5 tips for finding your why
1. Find what you love
This is one thing you cannot force; this is the thing that you go to whenever you have free time, it is the thing that you think about that makes you feel good. Everyone has something they love, whether that is a sport, collecting something, caring for children or a hobby. I did not realise how much I loved doing business and creating products until I did it. So, my advice would be to get out of your comfort zone, if you do not know what your “WHY” is right now then say YES to lots of things and find what you love.
2. What are you naturally good at?
If you love sport, writing, music or art then often you’ll have a natural talent for them, which means that you practise more, which in turn makes you better at your passion and the cycle continues. I would love to sing, but alas, no practise on the planet will make sweet noise come out of my mouth, so I have not put the time into this (much to the delight of my family). Find out what you are good at, you do not have to win an Olympic medal but if you love what you do then you will find great joy in it.
Make the time for your passion. I know many talented people who stopped painting or writing due to time commitments. Make the time and encourage the people around you to support you in your passion. Happiness creates good people, happy women and men become good wives, husbands, mothers, fathers and friends.
3. What do you want on your tombstone?
My mother’s ‘why’ or purpose is her family, she has four children, 11 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren and she is passionate and committed to every one of them. Her family love her, because they have been her why, her purpose, her passion. She is present for every major event, her open arms and door is known to all of them, and it is very clear what is going to be on her tombstone. But every now and then she will get her priorities wrong, she will put cleaning the house before going for a picnic with family. But, when you show her this, she knows that in the end the clean house is not what she would want to be known for. What will be on your tombstone?
4. Where do you add value?
What comes with purpose and ‘why’ is how we add value to others. As mentioned above, my mum’s ‘why’ is clear. For me, I mentor up and coming business people and I get enormous pleasure from seeing their success. I add value on boards, I add value within my business, with family and with friendships, in fact, I find it so much easier to give than take. People need to be needed and this is an important thing to remember with regard to your ‘why’.
5. Understand the difference between how, what and why
Often people get confused with the how, what and why. Let’s look at them individually using business as an example:
HOW – Write a business plan, set up a good accounting system, get funding and look for partners and/or staff that will assist.
WHAT – This is the product or service you are creating.
WHY – This is the emotional connection to the outcome. How does it make you feel, what do you want to achieve emotionally? It is the emotion and the connection that will make people follow you and stick with you when it all looks too hard.
