Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit First, pushes entrepreneurs to dig past surface answers when asking "What do you want?" Most start with money, then find deeper drivers like serving others or self-discovery. He suggests repeatedly asking why to uncover your real purpose, and says it's fine if the answer stays unclear at first.
Hi, it's Mike Michalowicz here, author of Profit First. I have a question for you. What do you want? And I mean, what do you really want? It's a question you probably hear all the time out of your business. What do you want? Probably every coach you've met, every consultant you've spoke with, every book you've read have asked you what you want. And that's the starting point I'm here to tell you. Maybe, perhaps for you it's not. Sometimes the answer is the discovery of what you truly want. So maybe you do start off by saying, I want to make lots of money and that's the path you follow. But over time, you discover that isn't what's driving you. Maybe it's how you're serving people. Maybe it's self discovery. Maybe it's because your business has become a platform of expression. Here's my challenge to you. The next time you consider your business, which I mean when you stop watching this video, consider this. When you consider your business, consider what you want from your business. But then when you have your answer, ask yourself why. And when that answer presents itself, ask yourself why again. When that answer presents itself, ask yourself why yet again. You may find that you peel back the onion so far that there is no answer. There is no real reason. And that's okay. Sometimes in business, the journey you reveals the destination. You don't have to always know the destination first. So what do you want? And if you don't know, it's okay.
