I just re-listened to a thought-provoking book by Simon Sinek called “Start With Why.” The premise is pretty straightforward. Why do you do what you do? What is your raison d’etre – your reason for being? Do you have one? Has it changed since you last considered it?
For many of us, we go through life without a strong sense of why. While some know their sense of WHY intuitively, many of us don’t know or can’t enunciate our WHYS. We therefore choose not to dwell on WHYS. This can however change (very quickly sometimes) if you decide to “quit your job and pitch your tent“. As you can tell from this last link, it is not always rosy when you go into business for yourself. Most times you have zero margins for error; you are the be-all and end-all of things. However being an entrepreneur has a ton of rewards such as the freedom to write your own life script, the option to focus on what is important to you and the opportunity to make an impact on your terms. Of course being on your own so to speak is also fraught with serious challenges. Which is why having a sense of WHY is so critical.
But I digress. So what is your WHY? Hold that thought; we will come back to it. The reason I really liked Mr. Sinek’s book “Start With Why”, is because it forced me to ask this most serious of questions. You see, it is when you realize oh *$#t — people actually depend on me. I am not talking about just my family, but actual employees, customers, partners, shareholders and everyone else in between — including the government! I know I go back and forth with the whole Tea Party thing but c’mon; a 40% corporate tax and I will take up a banner any day!
To continue, when you come to the cold, hard realization that whatever you are doing is no longer some feel good random hobby but something substantial and with serious implications for folks outside of yourself, you definitely need some kind of a guiding principle like a rudder, a true north. Of course I am assuming you don’t already have one. So what is it that causes you to rise up each day dreading or welcoming the opportunity to serve once more? What drives you to stay on late after others have gone home? What keeps you up past the wee hours of the morning? And more importantly, how can you share this ‘juju’ with the rest of your team so that they are also inspired to keep the touch burning bright?
From Mr. Sinek, it is the “ability to inspire your team” with a clear and powerful WHY! Consider this; what got you into your business in the first place? How did you feel when you realized you were getting a check for something you would have done free? Does the feeling of helping someone or some organization cause you to pause and consider how lucky you are? Is making a difference in someone’s day, something that can hit all the way down to your core? How about when you finally win over that difficult sale; the one you put your all into. How do you feel then?
For me, my WHY began many many moons ago. Here’s something few know. When I was 12 or so, I along with 2 of my friends got called to sing (I think the scheduled singer was a no-show hence the invite) at an event at our elementary school (in Navrongo, Ghana). Now some might argue about my vocal skills today but back then I think we did a fine job singing for that gathering of nuns. At the end of the event, we even got paid — it was small .. like $2 or so but that was best feeling I had ever experienced. I felt like an adult – I had earned money for doing something and it did come from my parents; wow! Something else happened; I had this feeling of just being happy to have been invited to the event to entertain those nuns. Heck we would have sang free of charge for as long as they needed us to. The joy of helping out folks was enough payment. I now realize this pattern kept repeating itself in different scenarios and experiences. I am sure many of you can relate.
St. Benedicts School in Ghana
Over the years, I have seen how my parents Charles and Rose Weobong, have placed service to others beyond their own needs. These are the people who chose to invest their retirement funds in the ultimate startup – a school so that kids in Ghana would be able to get an education. Today St Benedict’s school has over 500 kids and their dedication to excellence is impressive. In fact they are ranked number 1 in academic achievement in their municipality! The joy of service is something that I guess I internalized growing up. It is really very simple. If I can help, I will help.
With this service bug thing in my system it was simply a matter of time before the “infection” spread in our companies Telania, LLC. and Pungu, LLC. Our WHY as business entities for our products eLeaP, Azimio and CaptureLeave, was really simple. We provide great, easy to use, feature rich software products so that our customers have the tools they need to succeed. In addition to this and even more important, we provide these products with a sense of service that is continuous, dedicated and selfless! In short we provide PERSISTENT SERVICE.
What is Persistent Service?
I define persistent service as service that won’t quit. I am talking about the physical service (your product or solution) but I am also referring to your customer service. Do you keep a record of how many times a certain customer calls in? Stop it. Do you keep a LIST? You know .. of troublesome customers? Delete it! Do you tire of taking one more phone call before the day is over? Go ahead and answer it anyway and smile through the phone. Persistent service means having the patience to serve with a goal towards making sure that your customer comes away from the interaction with a positive experience of you and your organization.
Is persistent service compatible with maximizing the bottom-line? You bet. Does it cost more to be persistent? Yes. It is worth it? Absolutely! Is it easy to adopt a persistent service approach? Yes very much so.
First, I encourage you to read Mr. Sinek’s book. You should then take some time to find your WHY. You can ask trusted advisors, co-workers or even your spouse or family. Don’t forget to ask your customers too after all they interact with your company on a consistent basis. After you gather all the facts, ideas, half-truths etc work like hell to make sure you distill your WHY down to its essence. Share your WHY with your team and/or with your family. Then live your life giving it all you got. You will be surprised at the results — financial and otherwise.
I hope that this little juju will be spread far and wide. I know my WHY. My team knows our WHY because my team makes it easy to provide persistent service. They get it! What a team!
Do you know your WHY?
Find it, share it and thank you for reading this.
Don Weobong, President, Telania & Pungu, LLC.