I love meeting people and talking about their passions in business. There are so many stories! Maybe they got into their business because they want to really help people. Maybe, their mom or dad pushed them into it. Maybe it’s just been a lifelong passion. One of the things I rarely (if ever) hear is “I got into this business to make a ton of money.” Why do you think that is?

Before we dive into the process of finding your why, I wanted to take a moment to explain the importance of finding your purpose. Why even go through this exercise? Well. For starters, starting a business isn’t for the faint of heart. There will be long nights, early mornings, mistakes, learning experiences, and a whole litany of things that may bump you off your path unless you have the type of gumption that it takes to build a business. It takes lots of passion. That’s why you have to find your purpose. If your purpose is to “make a ton of money” and this doesn’t happen right away. You’ll probably get discouraged and maybe even quit. Sure, some companies and entrepreneurs have immediate success. But the vast majority of business owners are driven by passion and their dream.

It’s that intense passion that helps push business owners to break through hard times and excel.

But how did they find it? How do they articulate it?

One of my favorite exercises is to ask new business owners this question, “If money didn’t matter, what would you do in life?” (Of course the money matters, but it can’t be all about making money.) It’s pretty straightforward, but many people haven’t actually stopped to think about it. Seriously. Why are you working so hard? If it’s just for the paycheck, you’re bound to find a bigger one somewhere else. Don’t chase after dollars. Instead, dig deep and figure out what you’d do if the money didn’t matter. Then, since the money does matter a little bit, how are you going to monetize this passion?

If you can’t answer these two questions, you may need to start over.

If you think you’ve found a passion that you can embrace and build into a business, see if this list of motivators resonates with you.

• Are you trying to impress someone? That’s not a bad thing, but why are you trying to impress them?
• Are you competing with someone? Also not a bad thing, but what happens when you beat them?
• Are you trying to accumulate wealth?
• Is it an ego thing?
• Do you want to help as many people as possible?
• Did you have a traumatic experience and want to prevent others from experiencing the same thing?
• Is there a massive social injustice that you want to curb/correct?
• Are you smitten by the science/technology behind the intricacies in your process?
• Are you a knowledge junky and want to learn as much as possible about how to improve your product or service?

Once you’ve figured out your “why”, you can begin to hone your story. This is an important part of the process so you can effectively communicate your “why” to others.