I hear much of success can be attributed to knowing your “Why”? It is even more beneficial when you can articulate it and even incorporate it into your marketing strategy.
After my business took off, I often reflected on the “why” of it. I had long had the desire to start my own business, and I knew that I wanted it to be something that was somehow different, even odd (hit the nail on the head there). I have been asked dozens of times why (or more accurately “Why on Earth?) would I want to do THIS for a living. I think for a little while, I spent a little too much time trying to figure out my “why?”, in that, I began to doubt I could be successful if I did not understand how I got to where I was. I did, though, at least know how owning my own business made me feel – HAPPY. I was happy and the business was growing – so To Hell with the Why.
I have ridden that to hell with it attitude for a while now. As 2022 began, I started to reevaluate some goals for the business and in my personal life. I found myself once again reflecting on the why. This time, instead of focusing on why I ended up scooping poop – specifically – I began to look at it through a larger lens so that I could get a better look at the whole damn thing. When I started to look at it in that way, the biggest thing I could see was the tremendous amount of happiness my own business has brought to me. I recently listened to an interview with Goldie Hawn. When she was a teenager, someone asked her what she wanted to BE when she grew up. She knew at a young age that she wanted to BE happy. She wanted to DO (at that time) dancing, but what she wanted to BE was happy. She knew that what she would DO in life would have to BE something that made her happy and through that attitude she raised a lovely family and had many career successes.
Happiness can mean many different things to different people. For me, happiness is being a mom, mimi, wife, fur baby mamma. Taking care of my home, living a simple life, spending time with loved ones. Also, having alone time, being outdoors, being physically active. Having space and time to create, read and just BE. Throughout my entire adult life I tried, unsuccessfully, to fit in the things that brought me happiness around whatever job I was doing since I had never found a job that I felt I could incorporate happiness into. I used a lot of energy up at work and did not leave enough energy for me to put toward a life that had meaning to me. What owning my own business has allowed me to do is to build a business into my life. It has helped me to be able to distribute my energies more evenly. I love my scooping time. And, it is not about the actual scooping of the poo, but what it allows me to do…I get some precious alone time, get to be outdoors, listen to music or Podcasts that inspire me to create – to dream. I get to build a schedule around time to take care of my family, my puppies, my home…sometimes bringing my family or puppies along with me on my daily travels. My office time gives me some brain time…accounting and marketing provide me with challenges and obstacles. When I make mistakes, I learn from them. When I figure something out (like website design or balance my checkbook), I am proud of myself. There is always something new to learn, even in this simple little business I have created for myself.
So, like Goldie, what I want to BE is happy, and what I DO is helping me to be just that – AND that my friends, is my WHY? (Mic drop here).