“I want my children and my grandchildren to live in a place where they can breathe freely.”

Eka continued to share with fervor, “I want them to live in Bali where there will still be many trees, many greens.” That statement was her why for pursuing her dream of her own Balinese restaurant that would encourage biking, planting trees, and other carbon reduction practices. The problem of air pollution was apparent to her so she wanted to use her skill with cooking to solve it…and she hasn’t even graduated high school.

I came to Bali to get mentored to work on my business. I didn’t know that in just three days of workshops we’d have the opportunity to pass on our learnings to Eka and other Balinese high school students at an orphanage who were part of a program to grow a social enterprise too (haha I’m all not about comparison but one can feel like “shucks, what was I doing in high school?!”)

Brainstorming ideas with Eka was the melted almond butter on top of a Trader Joe’s cheesecake aka an unexpected treat that only added to the dense and deep experience that was this YellowCo retreat to Bali, a week of workshops and experiences for myself and 11 other women who are starting do-good businesses.

Getting To Work

One of the first things we learned is something Eka already knew: our why should drive everything. We envisioned the world that we wanted to see. Everything: our business model, name, strategy, product, marketing etc. may all change but that why will be steady.

Eka got that. Her why was so strong.

And my why behind my businesses, Ethical Weddings and ComePlum, got some time on the operating table during this retreat and they are the better for it.

I thought I knew why I started these ventures but I never gave myself the space to dig deep and look into the backstory. If any of you have watched a movie with me, you know that within only a few hours of the credits rolling, I’m online reading the trivia on all the cast & crew (my fellow Millenials, did you know that Gaga & Coops’ A Star Is Born is the third version of it? And that there are subtle nods to its predecessors throughout the film?). As an artist, the behind-the-scenes stuff gets me hyped! But I’ve never pieced it together that the backstory behind a business is just as juicy.

So I went to the hypothetical Wikipedia page of my businesses and tried to discover:

Why do I do the work that I do?
Why do I photograph the people that I do?
Why am I trying to get the Ethical Wedding movement off of the ground?

But even deeper, what is my life story?

What led me to ComePlum?

What led me to Ethical Weddings?

I got all autobiographical and looked back at my own narrative. I went back to a time when I knew what it was like to be in the wrong place. I knew what it was like to put my energy into something and not care for it. I knew what it was like to spend my time and resources but still live feeling torn and disconnected. And in contrast, I knew what it was like to have the aha moment. I knew what it was like to have a dose of Tom Cruise and jump up and down on my couch fueled with excitement when I felt like what I was doing was exactly what I need to be doing.

And I knew I wanted to give that latter feeling to others.

So the why behind my business is this:
I want to see a world where people are inspired, fulfilled, and impactful.

Your Turn

So there’s no guarantee you’ll get to Tom Cruise level of excitement (and I don’t think many want it haha) but here’s how you can find out your why:

1. Explore your story. Your personal story. Your business story. Do you see any themes? Overlaps?
2. Next, ask yourself, what kind of world do you want to see?

Now combine those answers together.

The freeing part for me is that it doesn’t necessarily have to mention anything you do specifically with your business.

The why is that simplified statement of the juice that gets you going. I used to be hung up on the how and the what for business but those are fluid. The why is the base, it’s solid.

Draft it. Put it on a post it note. Edit it as necessary to give it that bang.
But if it makes you smile I’d say you’ve found it.

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I didn’t know that I didn’t know my why before this trip. Putting words around this core drive of mine is game changer.

Unbalivably so.