Your "Why" Could Sink Your Solobusiness! No, this isn't clickbait. Let me explain.

No, this isn’t clickbait. Let me explain.

Sinek: inspiring, hammering his message with a reassuring voice, but his concept of the "Why" and its amplified effects since then could pose two major problems for solopreneurs.

This is pure fresh brain juice, not something read elsewhere. It’s "in-house" inspiration—just an evolution of a first article on my blog from a few years ago about the concept of the "WHY." Here’s the next step in its development.

I’ll start from the premise that this issue with the WHY, as I’m presenting it, stems from Simon Sinek. He didn’t invent the idea, but he turned it into a central, even cult-like, concept with three tips. But that’s not today’s debate.

His concept can be summed up as: "People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it!"

I belong to the group of people who believe that customers buy an object, a service, a tool, a method, or knowledge that has utility and solves a problem, no matter how small. Not a reason for being. Even if it touches on emotions.

No, Mr. Sinek, I don’t buy a Mac because of Steve Jobs’ Why.

And neither do you. You buy it for your own reasons.

How many people have bought a Mac without knowing or thinking about Steve?

I’m also not going to pay a fitness coach because they’ve figured out that sports equals health, that someone in their family didn’t exercise enough, that it made them sad, and that’s how they found their Why to help people.

As for me, aka "the client": You seem to match what I’m looking for, and you look healthy. I just want to lose 4 kilos while eating Tyrell’s chips, please. How much does it cost? Is it going to be hard? How long will it take?

No client has ever asked me or chosen me to work on their orientation decisions because of my Why. They didn’t know it, and it wasn’t written anywhere.

The Two Major Problems Your "Why" Will Create

1) The first problem has two sides.

On the surface, it’s an attempt to base part of your entrepreneurial success on your Why. The implication is that if you find your reason for being, the rest is just action. Well, no. Reflection shouldn’t stop there.

Subtly, finding your Why makes you more tempted—or reassured—to dive into entrepreneurship and leave your stable job behind.

2) The second problem.

This plunges entrepreneurs into difficulty letting go, even when everything shows that the results (revenue or clients) are not what they hoped for. Why? Because their Why is their primary driver, the reason for their action.

Pivoting and admitting the failure of their Why under these conditions is much harder.
And this is where you can sink your business. Without your Why, the weight of disappointment and all the wasted efforts will keep you from reinventing yourself—or doing so quickly enough.

Many remain stuck with additional excuses to cling on:

• "I’m only good at this."
• "This is really what I want to do."

And now, a bonus third problem (aka over-delivery).

Whether it’s your first problem or a snowball effect, you end up in the paralyzing fear of no longer doing something aligned (based on whatever meaning you give to that term—I don’t fully get the concept myself, but that’s for another article).
Being aligned: yet another dictate in work or entrepreneurship.

What truly matters

Marrying desire, vision, and results are the three pillars of solopreneur fulfillment. The next step in development takes us into something else entirely.

What should matter most—what should matter most (What? I’m repeating myself like Simon ; Fun right ?...)—is the process and the results you deliver to your client.

The Why is just one element among others; it is not universally central to the process or the system.

However, as a driver to push yourself and take on challenges: of course.

If reflecting deeply on your project makes sense to you, explore my method and offer. It might resonate with you.