Over the years, I have had discussions with many small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Their industries are all different: health products, education, photography, travel, dentistry, construction, demolition, transportation, solar panels, plumbing and flooring, just to name a few.

Their levels of business expertise are all different: some are start-ups, some are veterans of their field and some have a few years under their belts.

Their issues are different, their pain points are different, their approaches are different, their obstacles are different and their goals are different.

The common thread that I found among them all, virtually without fail, is that they had a hard time answering the simple (or actually not so simple at all) question of, “What Is Your Why?”

Many topics were discussed, and many questions were asked and answered. Many ideas were presented, and many solutions were thrown around, and other than the elusive answer to the all-important question of “What Is Your Why?” most of them seemed to know and understand the general direction their business needed to take to ensure steady growth.

Understanding the importance of the question “What Is Your Why?” and, more importantly, taking a long, deep look inward and answering this question, goes a long way in alleviating a lot of the pain points that business owners deal with.

Knowing and understanding your “Why,” and crafting your “what,” “when,” “where” and “how” around the foundation of your “Why,” will allow for a better balanced approach to your business. It will also enable you to stay focused when the going gets rough and will ensure that you remain motivated to do what is necessary to fulfill the goals that come along with reaching your “Why.”

Parenthetically, or maybe this should be the main point of this article, if your only “Why” is “to make money,” your business is in some serious trouble in terms of sustainability … perhaps we will elaborate more on this in a future article.

So, do you know your “Why?” If you do not, I suggest you do some serious business introspection to start figuring it out!