Why did you start your business?
What was the original goal you had in mind? Who was the audience you chose to serve? How did you imagine you would be meaningfully different from your competitor? Do you (or someone at your company) genuinely understand the original intention?
Businesses easily get lost in the doing, the activity, the projects.
But when you can pull yourself back into those moments of creation- many choices can become more evident. If you didn’t start a business but work as an employee, what do you know about the founder’s intention?
Nothing Like an Original
Pirch, the home furnishing store wanted to reimagine the experience of shopping for luxury fixtures for your home. They wanted to give you something you can’t get online. Human beings required.
The Millburn Deli, in Millburn, New Jersey wanted to make such extraordinary sandwiches, it became the place you wanted to visit if you were within 5 miles. Their founders wanted nothing less than extraordinary. (Watch this clip from with my daughter Fanny and my Mom, Bea from The Cooking Channel’s Best Thing I Ever Ate celebrating their specialness).
Manini’s Gluten Free Pasta didn’t want to make the best gluten-free pasta. They wanted to make the best pasta that happens to be gluten-free. Through multiple experiments, they found a recipe that surprises the most sensitive pasta palettes.
Omaze wanted to democratize charitable giving and to give anyone a chance to win a wildly fantastic prize like getting to shoot hoops with Magic Johnson. Their original intention for their business remains clear, and they filter every new opportunity by these criteria.
Fat Tire from New Belgium had an owner who rode on a “fat tire” bike throughout Europe sampling beer. To celebrate his original intention, employees get a bicycle on their first anniversary with the company. This connects his origin story with his ongoing intention around making extraordinary beer.
Original Intention
Is it clear to everyone in your organization what your original intention was in starting your business? Nike may sell athletic shoes, but the original purpose remains focused on the more profound, emotional experience that everyone is an athlete if you have a body.
Are employers overwhelmed by complexity because the business is going in so many directions, that your mission isn’t simple, obvious and understood by all? Keeping your original intention front and center can make a big difference in building your brand.
Maybe it is time to hit the refresh button and remember your original intention.
For marketing consulting services, contact me at jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or you can call me at 919 720 0995. If you’d like to schedule time for an introductory call, click my calendar to schedule time.
Photo by Gavin Allanwood on Unsplash
