How to Make MEANING in Entrepreneurship | Guy Kawasaki

Good morning, Believe Nation. Today's message is Make Meaning. Over to you, Guy Kawasaki. I wake up every morning with espresso to keep me going.

The first thing I figured out and learned, sometimes the hard way, about entrepreneurship is that the core, the essence of entrepreneurship is about making meaning. Many, many people start companies to make money, the quick flip, the dot-com phenomena. And I have noticed in both the companies that I've started and funded and been associated with that those companies that are fundamentally founded to change the world, to make the world a better place, to make meaning are the companies that make a difference. They are the companies to succeed. My naive and romantic belief is that if you make meaning, you will probably make money. But if you set out to make money, you will probably not make meaning and you won't make money. So my first thought is you need to make meaning. That should be the core of why you start a company. There are 3 ways to make meaning. First is to increase the quality of life. My background is the Macintosh division of Apple Computer, and I can tell you with total certainty that we were not motivated by making money. We were motivated by changing the world to make people more creative and more productive. We were trying to increase the quality of life for the Macintosh user. And that was a great motivation. It kept us going through many, many difficult periods. We were waking up in the morning thinking how we could change people's lives. A second way to make meaning is to right a wrong. You know, this fish is going to die after jumping out. But to right a wrong means that you find something that's wrong in the world or you notice something that's wrong and you want to fix it. I want to fix that. This might be particularly applicable to not-for-profits where there's pollution or there's crime or there's abuse and they just, their very core is to end that wrong. And the third way to make meaning is to prevent the end of something good. That you see something beautiful, something wonderful and you just can't stand the fact that it's been eroded, it's being changed, it's being ruined. So I ask you as you start your companies, your not-for-profits, your churches, your schools, whatever you're starting, please have one of those three motivations, one or more of those motivations. If you don't have any of those motivations, I suggest that you rethink what you're doing.

So for those of you who've been on my channel for a while, you know this is a message that's core to me, and I felt like I don't want to tell the same story over and over and over and over again, but I do want to say one quick thing. I was in the comment section today, and a guy had left a comment on one of my videos talking about me mentioning how many subscribers I had on my channel. And he said I should stop making videos just to get subscribers for the channel. And if you know anything about my channel, you would know that I don't do this just to get numbers. There's a lot of stuff that I could do, a lot of cheap things I could do on my videos to just try to boost the subscriber count. I wanna feel proud about the work that I'm doing, right? Everything that I make on this channel is a reflection of me, what I'm interested in, and of you guys with your requests. And I want to be able to look at the videos that I make and one, be inspired myself, and two, give ideas and motivations and strategies to help other entrepreneurs make meaningful changes in their lives. And I guess it bothered me because I think too many entrepreneurs are in it just for hitting numbers, hitting revenue targets, hitting subscriber numbers, and do whatever it takes without building anything that's meaningful and concrete, it makes them feel good, and it's a hollow victory, and you likely won't even get there. But I encourage you guys to do the things that make you come alive and the things that add meaning, because it's, it's so hard being an entrepreneur. And for those of you who are already in it, you know what I'm talking about. It's insanely difficult to be an entrepreneur, and the only thing that gets you through is to put that disproportionate amount of time into what you're creating to eventually see something, the only thing that gets you through that is the love for what you're doing, is the meaning in the work, right? Not just hopefully to hit this end goal, because you're gonna quit because it's too hard, because you have to face so much crap to get to where you want to go. The thing that gets you through is the meaning in the work and enjoying the process along. So anybody who suggests that you're in it just for the numbers, at least for me, you guys, loyal audience, know that that's not true. And I really highly encourage you guys to find something meaningful in your work that makes you come alive. So the question of the day today is, what is the meaning in your work? Leave it in the comments below. I'm curious to find out, and I'm going to join the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Have an amazing day. Continue to believe, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso. I wake up every morning with espresso, keep me going.