When you’re passionate about what you do, then it’s not just about the money. Answer the question, ‘what business are you really in?’ to connect with your tribe and create real impact.

As many of you know, my partner Mark and I will be married next year. In preparation for the wedding, we met with the wedding planner at our venue a few months ago. She was new to the role, having come from another venue, but had helped plan hundreds of weddings in the past. When the venue called to say we would have a change from our original planner, we were confident that all would be well.

But when we met, we realised that it was not going to work. The wedding planner was clearly experienced, but she was obviously uninterested in who we were, and what we wanted for our wedding day. She was unhelpful and uninspiring. She could probably have ‘got the job done’ but it seemed like it was rote work to her – entailing organisation and details. She’d lost the care factor

The energy the wedding planner was giving off was that she didn’t understand the job she was in. She didn’t understand that she wasn’t in the business of ‘organising events’ or ‘wedding planning’.

So what business was she really in?

She was in the business of memories.

What business are you really in?

It’s vital for you to ask yourself, ‘What business are you really in?’ Understanding what business you’re really in, and tailoring your services and products to that end, helps your business to grow and your impact to increase.

This is not just lip service, but an essential part of your business whether you’re a solopreneur or the CEO of a multinational entity. In fact, Mark Bouris, Executive Chairman of Yellow Brick Road Group and host of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice, tells the story of when he went to meet Kerry Packer because he was investing $25 million dollars in Wizard Home Loans (the precursor to Yellow Brick Road Group).

When they sat down together Kerry, who was quite a big, intimidating man, turned to Mark and asked him, ‘What business are you in?’ Mark was a bit taken aback because surely Kerry would have done his due diligence and knew the nature of their business. But he answered and said, ‘We do home loans’. Then Kerry said to him, ‘You aren’t in the business of home loans. You’re in the business of hopes and dreams’.

Shift your perspective from transaction to tribe

As experts it’s easy to get lost in the details. We get into the day-to-day transactions and what we have to do and forget to focus on who we are doing it for. When we shift our perspective from transactions to tribe, then we can see who it is that we’re leading. And then we can better understand what business we’re really in.

Let’s consider some possible roles and what their ‘real’ business is:

Richard Hamming, American mathematician and a pioneer in computing and telecommunications, said, ‘The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers’.

Elevating people elevates your content

When you create content, you’re always trying to tell your audience, ‘I see you’. You can tell them this by answering the question, ‘What business are you really in?’

When you find your purpose, then you can connect with your tribe and build relationships that will ultimately build your business. Your energy changes and you see people differently. And you see yourself differently. You start to think bigger and better. You’re able to do what your clients want while at the same time doing what feels good to you.

Once you are focused on elevating people – elevating your tribe – your content is elevated as well. You’re able to enrich your communications with insight and joy. And that’s what will set you apart and enable you to have real impact.

Tony Robbins said, ‘The real joy in life comes from finding your true purpose and aligning it with what you do every single day’.

So, what business are you really in?