“There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.” – Peter Drucker
Off late, I have been interacting with a lot of entrepreneurs, both first time startups and seasoned entrepreneurs. The thing that I find common with each of these individuals is the passion they feel for their enterprise. If you are or have been an entrepreneur , you will know that entrepreneurship is a world full of rushed timelines, funding constraints and struggles to keep the lamp burning. It is exciting to see how these dynamic men and women trudge along bravely in the face of adversity and actually take strength from it.
What does surprise me however is that while each enterprise is born of passion, there is huge ambiguity to the purpose of each of these. And that brings me to the topic of this blog.
As an entrepreneurs your passion will give you the momentum to keep going, but the clarity of your purpose, will tell you if you are heading in the right direction. It is as simple as driving a car. You can have a great vehicle, have the right technique and the right fuel, drive hard and fast, but if your map is all wrong you will never reach your destination.
So how do you understand if you have your purpose right? If I break up purpose it very simply becomes the answer to the below 3 questions – The Why, The Who and The What.
- The WHY: Why are you doing what you are doing? What is the drive behind your enterprise. When I asked this question in a recent forum I got answers ranging from “Make my mark in the world”, “Be rich”, “Be famous”, “Have power” and “Inner satisfaction”. While these are great answers from a motivation point of view, they do not serve any business purpose other than keeping your energy up. The purpose of what you are doing needs to align with a need (real or perceived) in the market. Meeting this need has to be the number 1 purpose of any enterprise. Money, fame, achievement and everything else are welcome as the secondary byproducts. Even more critical is your understanding and belief of this purpose. So if your subconscious gives you any other answer revisit your purpose. If you are in it just to be rich or famous there are scores of easier ways to do it.
- The WHO: For whom are you doing it?- Who needs your business? Who really is your target market and whose need are you fulfilling? Do they need you or you must create the need? Is there someone out there looking for you and your business? How do you know they exist and how are you letting them know that you exist? Clarity of who your business is serving is a direct answer to does your enterprise serve a purpose. No customers means no business and if the customer does not see a purpose for you to be around, trust me you won’t be.
- The WHAT: If “The Why” tells you why your business is needed and “The Who” tells you who needs it then “The What” will tell you how you will fulfil the need. What you do to fulfil the need will essentially define your product or service in all its aspects including quality, pricing, features, marketing and pretty much everything else. When your enterprise gets set up what will it need to look and feel like to meet the purpose you intend it to? This in itself is the question that you need to ask when taking any decision with relation to your business. For every feature you want to add ask yourself if it is needed by the customer and will it fulfil the need.
So if you are a business owner now is as good a time as any to sit back and ask yourself the purpose of your enterprise. Why are you doing what you are doing? Who are you doing it for and what need in the market does your enterprise’ existence fulfil and how?