Mukesh Ambani says a business that only chases profit isn't worth building. Evan Carmichael argues you need a bigger purpose: embed a world-changing goal into your product, then pick a local community project you care about. He donated over $100,000 to Kiva and speaks at summits focused purely on giving value, not selling.
Good morning, Believe Nation. Today's message is business must serve a higher purpose. Over to you, Mukesh Ambani.
My father was a big believer that any business that has the sole purpose of making money is not worth doing. Business must serve a larger societal purpose.
I love, love, love, love this message because I think every business has the duty to give back to their community and not just, hey, let's make a lot of money and then give it to charity, but in the process of running your business, providing value, right? Remember, you're making money because you're providing value. The more value you provide to to clients, the more money you're going to make. And companies who have a goal, entrepreneurs who have a goal of just trying to make money rarely make it. Whereas the guys who want to have an impact, the guys who want to change the world in a positive way somehow, the guys who have this big vision for what they think could happen in the world and they want to be a part of that, they want to be one of the people changing and shaping the future of a certain industry, those are the guys who end up winning. And by winning and by changing, that's how you make a lot of money too because You're focused on creating products and services that people are really going to find interesting, helpful, and use. And it's great to want to give back. I find sometimes often entrepreneurs will give back too soon. Like, you have to be able to keep yourself going, right? You have to be able to make money yourself and pay your bills while providing extreme value to other companies. And don't just give away money to charity, and that's a great cause, but first you have to make sure that you are still around and able to keep on contributing. And so I would encourage you to think about two things, okay? One, how can you, in the process of the product or service that you're creating, have a big impact, big goal that you want to change your industry and have a positive contribution on the world? And then two, how can you do something more local, more in your community, a passion project, something that you love and you're excited about? So in my case, my examples, Every time I sell something, so for example here, I'm at Sage Summit, right? You can see the sign behind me, you got the crazy thunderstorm happening above me. Hopefully the audio is coming out okay. They pay me to be here, right? I'm being paid to be here, but I'm not just here selling— I'm not selling anything for me. I'm not saying, hey, go buy my book, go buy my t-shirts, sign up for my mastermind group. I'm not selling anything. I'm just here to provide value. I'm providing value because I genuinely want entrepreneurs entrepreneurs to get better. I genuinely care about entrepreneurs. Hopefully that comes across in the YouTube channel, and I want them to get better, and that's why they pay me to come here. And the more I focus on that, the more I actually end up helping entrepreneurs, and the more I'm invited to come back and do more of this stuff. Where if I came on and said, "Hey, you guys got to all go buy my book," sure, I might make some extra short-term sales of my books and my Zuga guides, but they're never going to invite me back. And so I'm playing the long-term game. On top of that, I also have donated, I think, over $100,000 now to Kiva, which supports entrepreneurs in Africa. And so as part of doing business with me, money that we make goes to support entrepreneurs who are trying to build a better life for themselves in Africa. And that, that's inspiring, both of them. Like dealing with day-to-day entrepreneurs and knowing that what I'm doing is helping other people makes me want to keep going, helps me get more business, helps me get more media attention. But more importantly, it's the right thing to do. And when you're doing something powerful and positive and has the ability to make a lot of impact, then you're going to get a lot of recognition, you're going to get a lot of attention, you're going to make a lot of money, and hopefully change the world. Thank you guys so much for watching. My question of the day for you today is, what higher purpose does your business serve? I'm really curious to find out. Leave it in the comments below. Thank you guys so much for watching. Continue to believe. Have an amazing day, and I'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot. Avance Bastia!
