The Business Guide
Just a regular guy that decided to quit his stable job and start a business. After successfully being in business I've learned a thing or two, unfortunately the hard way. I've created this podcast to share my successes & failures and to talk about the "real" ins & outs of business. I'll be personally sharing my stories along with guests.
As Business Owners we wear so many different hats and we have so many different struggles, we will breakdown those struggles together and talk about how we've overcome them and how it's shaped us to be better. If your a business owner currently going through a struggle, I hope this content helps!
The Business Guide
Defining Your Why: The Importance Of Having a Clear Purpose
What keeps you going when times get tough? Discover the power of defining your 'why' in business with me, Jonathan Wagoner, on the latest episode of the Business Guide Podcast. I recount my own journey from the corporate world at Walgreens to the unpredictable life of entrepreneurship. Learn how understanding your deeper purpose can be the key to surviving and thriving through difficult times. With insights from successful entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos, we'll explore how their clear visions propelled them to monumental success and how you can find and refine your own 'why.'
Keeping your momentum in business is essential, and I share practical strategies to help you stay energized and focused. Using the analogy of a train, I explain the importance of keeping the momentum going rather than starting and stopping. My personal mission statement was a lifeline during challenging periods, and it can be for you too. Hear how a well-crafted mission statement can be a living document that guides you and your team, keeping everyone aligned and motivated. We'll also dive into setting purpose-driven goals and the significance of surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals.
Finally, we'll touch on the value of quality audience engagement. It's not about the number of listeners but the depth of their connection to your content. I encourage you to interact, leave comments, and share your experiences or questions, which could inspire future episodes. This episode is packed with actionable advice and inspiring stories to reinforce your business purpose and celebrate achievements along the way. Tune in and get ready to align your entrepreneurial journey with your core values.
Hey, what's going on everybody? It's Jonathan Wagner and this is the Business Guide Podcast. I'm really excited you're here. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of Defining your why, the Importance of Having a Clear Purpose Really excited to go over so many different topics in this episode with you. And again, thank you for joining us. As a reminder, my name again is Jonathan Wagner.
Speaker 1:I have been in business a little over 12 years in beautiful California. I have had so many ups and downs being a business owner and I have created this podcast to really show the struggles that you may be going through on business and really work through those. My hope is that maybe there's a struggle that I have gone through and maybe I can shed some light onto that struggle and maybe it's something that you, as a business owner or inspiring entrepreneur, doesn't have to go at alone or even have to go through it. So that is really my goal of why I am here creating these podcasts. Again, as a reminder as well, I am not a professional pod, excuse me. I am not a professional podcaster, so I'm going to have mess ups. I'm going to have just all you know being tongue tied and all of that good stuff. Please bear with me as I get my bearings. These episodes are relatively newer and I definitely want a raw, unedited podcast for you. So I want you to get the real stuff, as I would like to be the real deal and get you quality information. So, that being said, there's going to be probably some mess ups in the episode, forgive me now.
Speaker 1:So I think some key topics we're going to talk about as far as defining your why and having that clear purpose is, you know, we really need to define your why. We need to make sure that you understand the benefits of having a clear purpose, and I'm going to give you some examples of maybe some entrepreneurs that have a strong why, and I've got some tips. So let's go ahead and jump into this episode. So what does it mean to have a why? And let's define that so you may get into business and maybe you're tired of working at that corporate job, or maybe you just want to be an entrepreneur and you don't want to have to work for anybody. Having that why or that purpose, I mean, I think, as you really dive deep into it, it's got to be in business, or why you are in business, because I can tell you that the thing I'll talk to friends about. They'll say, well, I don't have a boss. Well, in my situation, I have clients that I have to answer to every single day. So, yeah, I have a boss. Maybe I want to be paid more. Well, sometimes if you break down what an entrepreneur is making, break it down we could be getting paid less than minimum wage on some weeks because maybe we've had a slow week and we have to still get grinding. So, I mean, being your own boss, yeah, that's great. Making you know, good money I mean that's great too.
Speaker 1:Financial freedom what is financial freedom? Well, I want to buy a house. I want to have a nice car Okay, okay, great, let's dive into that. Because I've had those goals and I've I've crossed that. That. That box, or check that box in my business career and it left me left me unsatisfied.
Speaker 1:So I think really clearly defining and understanding what your why is is so important, is so important. I can't stress that you got to dig deep for this. This is not something that you know. As you're listening to this podcast, you're going to be like, oh, yes, yeah, that's why I'm in business. This is going to be something that you're really going to have to think about and really create and dive into. But you've got to define it, because as you run your business you're going to have to remind yourself exactly why you're doing it. Exactly why you're doing it. Because those long weeks where maybe you want to make more money being in business if money's tied to that, then what about when business is a little bit slower and you're really grinding all you can and you're not really getting paid that week, and maybe your employee's got to get paid a little bit more that week than you? Is that going to un-incentivize you to be a business owner? If you want to be your own boss but you've got clients screaming down your throat that you're not doing a good job or whatever it may be well, are you going to be unmotivated to be a business owner? So for me in business, I have to figure out why I enjoy being in business, and I've been able to kind of figure it out right. So I've been able to define my why up to a certain point and I feel like my why consistently changes.
Speaker 1:When I started my business, I knew that I didn't want to work at Walgreens anymore. So that was my why I didn't want to work at Walgreens. I then started to hire employees and I kind of remember my business plan that I that I put together in the stock room of that company years before, and it was I wanted to create something that could give other people the opportunity to provide for their families, and so that really resonated with me. And you know employees that I have come into, you know my business. I mean employees come and go. I've got some really good ones that have been with me a very long time and I've got some that you know don't last past a couple days, a couple weeks or a couple months. But knowing that those employees are and what they're able to do for their families are the reason why I'm in business, is a humble reminder of why I stay up late at night and do the things I do or why I go through the things that I do. So my why evolves. I know that.
Speaker 1:You know, right after COVID I had inspired to give back to my community in so many different times and different ways throughout my business career. And you know you get busy. You get busy with doing something. You know a customer coming in, a job coming in, maybe a marketing expense, whatever it may be and maybe you'll push off a donation or you won't go to that event or whatever it may be. And right after COVID, when everything kind of opened back up, I really made it a goal of mine of I really want to be a staple in my community for a local business that gives back to the community, and I really researched what I was going to do. I researched different organizations and I put together a donation schedule, if you will, and connected with these different organizations that I found important to me and so that came into my business as why we're doing what we're doing right now. It kind of altered the direction. And you know, when I first started carpet cleaning and then merging into water damage, I really found that the insurance industry could be super crazy, super unethical to policyholders and things like that. So my why started being because I really want to help homeowners that just don't know a difference, and so that why can merge so many different times for you in business?
Speaker 1:But making sure that you have that in check. That way late at night when you're dealing with burnout or it's been a really tough month or a tough quarter or a tough year, you can really have a solid reminder of why you get up in the morning and why you do what you need to do. And I mean, look at your family. If you have children, look at your kids. Are you trying to build something for their future? Are you trying to send them to college? Are you trying to give them a better life than what you had? Really? Figure out exactly what your why is. Define it out exactly what your why is. Define it. Having that clear purpose of why you're in business, switching gears and having there are benefits to having this why in a way that you can use it to you know, drive you so, um, funny, when I started my business, um, and and like most, I'm sure, entrepreneurs will put, put a goal, and if it's the house or the car or the fancy, whatever it is, uh, you know, you print a picture off of Google, you stick it on your wall and you look at it every single day.
Speaker 1:I can definitely say I would be lying to you if I didn't say I didn't do it. I absolutely did it. I can tell you that one of the first things I put up there was an airplane. I wanted a Gulfstream jet and that was why I was doing this as a carpet cleaner, I wanted this airplane. I think it's funny. I was doing this as a carpet cleaner, I wanted this airplane. I think it's funny as you meet certain goals and, by the way, I have not met an airplane goal and that has completely changed and it is no longer a goal of mine. I am completely satisfied with being able to fly commercial and not have a private jet. I mean, it's just something I don't need and it's funny how different directions change in business.
Speaker 1:So you know, sticking that fancy car or that watch or that airplane up on the wall, you Would I change that. Yeah, I thought it was nice, I thought I could check in. I thought it was a cool little goal that I had the fancy little car I was able to get. And when I got the car, did it satisfy me? Was it rewarding? Yeah, it felt cool for a minute, but it definitely didn't check the box of being rewarded and started to cross the line of could I do something better with my money or could I invest this somewhere else or could I help more people?
Speaker 1:Again, my goal and my why always comes back to helping people. It's something that, deep down inside, I really enjoy, and I mean it just came to me right now. Think about this podcast. I really enjoy the ins and outs of business and I love sharing my story with different people and I love giving insight on stuff that I've been through with friends, family and other business owners. So this is why I've put a podcast together is I want to help other entrepreneurs and business owners, so you can clearly see with my why it is really helping people, that when you get down to the bottom of it. So a couple years ago, what I did once I really figured out I really like helping people. That is something that I really like doing.
Speaker 1:You know, that fancy little jet came off the wall and, more importantly, what went up was my mission statement. I thought a mission statement at first was kind of silly. Right, these things don't generate income. You know, you see corporations or whatever it may be. They've got certain things dialed in and you always see a mission statement and it's you know I mean kind of bland sometimes or whatever. It is kind of boring and for me, the mission statement actually helps me and gives me clarity when I'm feeling a little bummed out or I'm feeling that maybe I'm not moving in the right direction or maybe I'm losing focus. The mission statement really helps me go back and reflect to a time that I said, hey, I find value in what I'm putting together here and I truly believe what I'm crafting and I need to read it and remind myself regularly. So it's funny how I think in business, as you have different goals and different aspirations, certain things change and I don't like looking at that picture of a jet anymore, but I really do like looking at my mission statement when I'm feeling bummed out. So making sure you have a clear purpose in why you're doing what you're doing is going to help you put yourself in check when you're feeling that burnout or you're feeling that struggle or you're feeling successful, whatever it is, and this is really going to help you and I think that it's important to do it.
Speaker 1:I tell people often that, sorry, my phone is just going off. So I really find it important to. I'm sorry that completely messed up my train of thought. I will make sure I silence it in the future. So let me try to rewind for a second Choo-choo-choo-choo-choo.
Speaker 1:I tell people often that I feel like I work harder when things aren't always going my way. I feel like I almost get lazy and complacent when you know phones are ringing off the hook, everything's great, employees are happy, customers are happy, businesses are running great. I really feel like I'm in a good, just a good spot, and I feel like I let go of the gas sometimes. And a good analogy that I like to explain to my guys through marketing efforts, and I'm sure you'll hear me, you know, maybe say this later, but I like to think of my businesses like a train and think about how much energy it takes to get that train going. And when the train is running it doesn't take a lot to maintain that energy. But when you completely stop the train, it takes the same amount of energy to restart it. So it's better to keep the energy going and maintaining the speed of the train than to stop and restart it. So I find that when I start to slow down I tend to work harder.
Speaker 1:And going back to the mission statement, I remember when I crafted my mission statement. It was when I was feeling down. I'll admit I was probably feeling a little depressed that something didn't go my way. Business wasn't really running. I'll admit I was probably feeling a little depressed that something didn't go my way. Business wasn't really running. I just felt like I was probably at the end of the road of my business at the time and just didn't know. You know how to look at it, you know otherwise. So I found it was important to put a mission statement together of why I do what I'm doing, so I can remind myself, and it is super crucial for me and my business to have that. So I would encourage you to try to figure out and discover why you're in business and why you do what you're doing and really look deep. It's not for the money. I mean it could be. I mean you've got to really figure out what gets you going to do what you need to do.
Speaker 1:So I plugged into Google. I wanted to find out a couple entrepreneurs that maybe I wanted to find out a couple entrepreneurs that maybe had a clear direction, or an unclear direction, of where they were going at the time. And, of course, I came across three big names. I mean you know them Steve Jobs, elon Musk, jeff Bezos. These are huge people that are within this time that you know have created you know huge businesses, time that you know have created you know huge businesses. But I really wanted to dive into why they started their company. And when you look at Steve Jobs I mean this guy, steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak, were in a garage, right, they dropped out of college they switched directions of what they thought their goals were going to be and they had a vision of changing the way people viewed and used computers. I mean, what a direction there. And I think, as you know Apple I mean you would think, as they've been able to change their technology throughout the years and grow as a business and become extremely successful you've got to think that that vision of originally changing the way people viewed and used computers is one of the main drivers in their.
Speaker 1:Why Elon Musk? Why did he start PayPal? Elon Musk, why did he start PayPal? He had a vision and this is going to be right off of Google Musk vision for an easy and secure online payment system that reshaped the way individuals conduct business online. And if you think about it excuse me, think about it before we had all of the online checkouts and payments and all of that good stuff Elon Musk had a vision to be able to craft a secure and easy way to take and process payments online. I mean, you've got to really figure out why you're in business and what you're doing and jot that down. Don't lose focus of it. I mean, if Elon Musk was to lose focus on PayPal, would the internet payment processing system be the way it is today? Who would have shaped it? What would it have looked like?
Speaker 1:Why did Jeff Bezos start Amazon? He just seized an opportunity. It sparked his entrepreneur imagination and that could be you as the inspiring entrepreneur or you've just started it. Maybe you were working at that car wash and you really you dived into the business logistics of the car wash and you've figured out like I can do this. I can do it better, but you got to figure out why you're doing it and now you can change the car wash industry. So this applies to small business owners. It applies to these big CEOs. I mean, I know that we see these names often and they get brought up often, but I think it's important to remember that they were all where we were at one point and to get inside their mindset. I mean, and look them up, look some videos up on and look, you know, figure out who you like as a you know an entrepreneur that has become extremely successful, and figure out why they were in business so you can help craft and define your why. Okay, going back to my notes, so I've got some tips. I'm going to read them off of here. I did jot them down, so this is going to be slightly scripted, but I thought that it was important for you guys to have a couple of tips of one on crafting the whys, but different examples of how to create them and maintain your focus on why.
Speaker 1:So, as mentioned, my favorite is create a mission statement and again, when I started business, I kind of thought it was silly. I didn't think it was important. My mission statement is kind of like a living document as well. It is something that every November which is right around my birthday I like to go in and tweak my mission statement. Sometimes it stays the same. I mean, I've got, like, my website, it's up and I've got a mission statement, but the way that I conduct my mission statement in my office is definitely a living document. It is a living statement that is updated yearly. So I would encourage you to form a mission statement and get it up on the wall and start looking at it, put it on your background in your computer, whatever you need to do, put it on a screenshot of your phone and put it in your background. Watch how that drives you.
Speaker 1:Next, another tip is set purpose-driven goals. Next, another tip is set purpose-driven goals. So for me, when, like I mentioned, I had wanted to get going into giving back to our community, this was something that committed me. So I went and met with these organizations, I talked it over with these organizations and, of course, the donations started to flow. So what's funny is you get invited to certain things. You know events and things like that that you know maybe the organizations that you're donating to have and those little things are not just showing face, but when I go to those events, it reminds me why I'm doing what I'm doing and why I've chose that organization or organizations to do business with. So set purpose-driven goals that remind you why you're doing what you're doing. Incorporate why into your daily operations. That's another tip.
Speaker 1:So, my guys, at my water damage side of the business, we can get burned out and they definitely get burned out. Sometimes we'll have a, let's say, a really, really busy week or a really slow week. I mean, both of those directions are, you know, in their own, but maybe we've got adjusters or customers that are being super difficult and my guys are feeling the burnout. I like to consistently have team meetings with those guys and we talk about why we're doing what we're doing. Maybe it's we're helping that single mom that is dealing with a water damage or fire damage in their house. Maybe they're dealing with a loved one that accidentally lost their life in a fire. These things define the why of what they're doing and it really resonates with my guys. I mean, how do you motivate your employees? Right, and you've got to really find somebody that enjoys what they're doing. I mean, if it's you've got a dental office and you've got somebody that maybe I think they're called a hygienist right, and they go in and they clean your teeth, why are they doing what they do? Is it to just clean teeth and collect a paycheck or is there something deeper there? So us as business owners, it is really our goal to motivate, or it's our job too to motivate our employees and remind them why they're doing it, but why we're in business as well. So incorporate why into your daily operations.
Speaker 1:Next and you've heard me talk about this before and I will definitely talk about it in the future, but it is surround yourself with like-minded individuals. I have a circle of really close friends of mine that are all business owners. They pretty much all think the way I think we share information to each other. We really surround ourselves around good people. We always want to grow. We continue learning. We go through maybe the same struggles different times, things like that. So surround yourself with like-minded individuals. Their why may be different than yours, but that's going to help you in those times that you know maybe you're down and you're not maybe understanding why. You know why you're in business. These like-minded individuals have been there, done that, and maybe you can help them get out of it, as they can help you get out of it.
Speaker 1:Another tip is share your story. So I know with my water damage restoration business, we share our story to our customers of why we give back to these different organizations on why we do what we do help people, things like that. This serves as another reminder for us to not get complacent. So we will have customers that will routinely ask us oh hey, I saw this article on your website or I saw this being shared at this organization's event or whatever it is, and we have to continuously come back and say, hey, yeah, this is why we're doing it, this is the purpose and you know we really look forward to doing it in the future. So I encourage you to share your story with others, so people are on the same boat as you and they know exactly what you're dealing with and what you're going through. And that's going to help continuously check and remind you of your why, going to help continuously check and remind you of your why.
Speaker 1:Let me see I've got two more that I wouldn't necessarily are. They're really helping you define your why, but this one is going to be track progress and then I'll merge it celebrate achievements. So I think it's important to track the progress that you're making with the different things that you're doing. And you know I really can't help you with your why. I can't define your why. I don't know what it is, but this is really customized for me and the way that I feel in my business and being able to track the progress of you know in my organizations and being able to help the community of how much money we as a business have been able to give back to the community, helps motivate me and encourage me. So being able to track that progress for me really shows like, hey, this is why I'm in business and this is why I enjoy doing it and then celebrating achievements. I mean, I'm a firm believer.
Speaker 1:When you celebrate your first year in business, celebrate that you have been and survived your first year in business. Celebrate your second year, celebrate your fifth year, celebrate your 10, 15, 20th year. These celebrations not only help you with your why of why you're in business and you've done what you've done, but it also acts as a scorecard. I know every holiday season I like to do a bunch of things for my guys and it helps me remind myself, as they invite their friends and they invite their families, of this is one of the huge whys I was in business and to be able to see everybody's face helps me track that I'm doing what I'm doing and maybe I had a banger year and maybe I didn't have a banger year, but my why is still getting fulfilled.
Speaker 1:I can't stress enough that. I can't stress enough that being in business is great and I do enjoy making money and I do like it. It's a challenge. I do enjoy helping customers, I love it, but at the end of the day it's not about money and I have kind of taken a mindset of I could almost care less about the actual money coming in. I could almost care less about the actual money coming in. It's more of am I being able to fill myself with the rewards of? Am I crossing or am I checking off my goals in what I'm doing in business? So one of the goals is definitely to make money and be financially free and be secure. So that is definitely always in the forefront, but I can say that it is not the main driver of why I do what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:So, in a nutshell, guys, I hope this episode has helped you. I hope that you can define why you're in business and what you are doing. I'm really excited that you know you've made it this far in the episode and you've taken the time. I am extremely grateful that you have also taken the time to. You know, listen to this all the way through Moving forward. I know that. You know. I know everybody wants feedback and you know, kind of like you, probably you like to have your customers lead feedback. Hey, can you leave me a five-star review? I definitely like my reviews. Hey, can you please leave me a review?
Speaker 1:My goal of this podcast and I've mentioned this before and will continue to mention it is to make sure that I am crafting these episodes to better help you as a business owner or you as an inspiring entrepreneur. With that being said, if you could please drop me a line either an email or a comment, or whatever it may be on what you found valuable on this episode and what you would like to see in the future? Now I promise I am not doing this for the algorithms. I'm not trying to blow up, I'm not trying to be an overnight sensation. I just want to make sure that I am truly providing the best content out there for you.
Speaker 1:It would be great to have 100,000 listeners or a million listeners, but if I had 10 listeners or 10 people that really found quality information out of my episodes, then I would be just as satisfied as having 100,000 or a million listeners, whatever it is. So the amount of people listening to this does not matter to me. It really matters to have people that are digesting this and really finding benefit. So, that being said, please, please, please, drop me a comment. Let me know what you're going through or if you've got any questions. I would love to create an episode off of it. If I don't have the experience in it, I would love to invite one of my other business owner friends, if they've got some experience in it, to elaborate and talk about it Again. Guys, thank you for joining me. It's Jonathan Wagner at the Business Guide Podcast and I will see you next time. Thank you.
