Make More Money By Focusing on Purpose
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Is one of your biggest reasons for running a business to make a lot of money?
You’ll get no judgment from me if so.
I’m a self-proclaimed capitalist, and entrepreneurship is a great way to do well financially.
(Not a guaranteed way, mind you. It has a low floor but also a very high ceiling.)
But the universe does not care about your bank balance.
What do I mean by that?
People don’t buy things because you want them to.
They buy things to satisfy a need that they have.
So if you’re trying to grow because you want more money, you first need to ask yourself:
- What problem am I solving?
- How well am I solving it?
If you want a yacht or a big house, more power to you.
If that’s truly the case, then you need to find a yacht-sized problem to solve.
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Here’s the other thing about money. It is 100%, all the time, a lagging result.
You can’t go and seek the money.
It took me a long time to learn that.
It can’t be the end-all be all for your organization. If you want to grow, you need to latch on to something bigger.
Not everyone wants to change the world. But you need to exist for some purpose that’s greater than yourself.
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Your team needs to exist for a purpose greater than you and themselves as well.
Even your senior leaders, whose job it is to help the business make money and be profitable, don’t ultimately do it for you.
They serve the business, not the owner. It’s a crucial distinction.
If your language gets a little sloppy and becomes more “me” than “we,” you can easily demoralize and disincentivize your team.
It’s not about making one person wealthy. It’s about satisfying the market and sharing the rewards of your success with your team members.
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If you’re reading this and thinking “Uh-oh, it’s me,” don’t judge yourself too harshly.
I get it. So many of us, when we’re starting out, are struggling just to survive. The business needs to pay our bills, and survival can feel all-consuming in the early days of growing a company. The focus on money is inevitable.
But there’s a turning point, when you start to grow, where you need to pick your head up and think bigger. If you don’t make that mental shift, you’ll never be able to think like your customers and your employees.
And you need their perspective if you want to succeed.
So latch onto the purpose you serve—or at the very least, the problem you solve.
Turn yourself over to that. If you do, you will be extremely enriched in all ways.
If you’re struggling to inspire your team to serve your greater purpose, we may be able to help. Contact us to learn more about our Executive Coaching program.
