It may be the ONLY thing that inspires you to succeed!
Many times people say they want to start their own business, but they can’t articulate the reasons why they want to start one. They may think that it’s the way to get out of debt, or the way to get rid of an unreasonable, stressful boss, or the way to gain back control of time or to work fewer hours and make more money, to travel the world and make money at the same time.
What I’ve discovered is that all these reasons boil down to one main idea. Most people want to start their own business because they want freedom. The freedom to make the money they desire to make, with no ceiling or upper limit. The freedom and flexibility to schedule work hours around other activities that are important to them. The freedom to work from any location that they choose.
These are the three central freedoms that people desire:
- Time Freedom
- Financial Freedom
- Location Freedom
Not everyone wants all three freedoms necessarily, and if they desire all three, it may not be to the same degree. But one of these three freedoms is their driving motivation for starting their business.
When I started my business over ten years ago, I desired all three freedoms, but my topmost freedom was location freedom, followed by time freedom. And my motivation (my BIG WHY) was that I wanted to be at home with my kids. I didn’t want to have to be away from them to work. I wanted to be there for them, to watch them grow, to capture all the baby steps and milestones. I didn’t want to miss any of it. That was my motivation! And it remains the same to date. I want to be able to pick them up from school and attend school performances in the middle of the day; I want to volunteer at the school if I chose to, I want to be at home to help them with homework, I want to make a fresh snack for them after school. That was and still is my BIG WHY.
So that’s what keeps me going when the going gets tough (and I promise you, it will).
In my book (Stay-At-Home Moms Making Money – 7 Steps to Starting Your Virtual Assistant Business) and online training course (The ALIGNED Virtual Assistant Program), I dedicate two chapters and two modules to discuss this very topic. It is so important to know this because if you don’t understand why you are starting your business, you will quickly give up. You will not have the tenacity and the grit to keep pushing forward no matter what. But here’s a hint, your “BIG WHY” should be inspiring and long term and generally affect the wellbeing of others (in other words, your BIG WHY is not about you).
A single parent may be motivated to start her own business to gain financial freedom. Why? So that she can take care of her family, pay for her kids’ college education, and provide for them a lifestyle that she only dreamed of as a child. Now that’s a BIG WHY that would keep her motivated to push through the tough times and keep setting high goals!
How about you? If you are considering starting your own virtual assistant business, what’s your BIG WHY?
If you already have your VA business up and running, what’s your BIG WHY?
Please share
