We all had different motivators and reasons for starting our own business. Some of the reasons range from wanting freedom, wanting to make more money, wanting autonomy, revenge, to prove something, to have something solely of your own, so you can choose to go to sports day or athletics day or school reading whenever you wanted without having to ask for permission… and so many other reasons.

Some have done it for all of the reasons above, some for some of those reasons and some have completely different reasons to those mentioned.

For me, the big motivators were about availability for my family, financial reasons and because I wanted to help people.

What about you? What are/were your reasons?

The past few weeks have had me reflecting on MY reasons why (heck, the past 2 years, let’s be honest!) and exploring how they’ve changed over the years. The reasons I started my business were to be more accessible for my kids (I have three!) particularly when they were younger.

What I have learned along the way is that the reason why you started the business isn’t necessarily the same reason behind wanting to keep it going……

Let me explain.

The call to adventure for me began about 4 years before I started this actual business. I had a jewellery business where I imported costume jewellery and sold it wholesale, online, at ‘parties’ via party plan and at our local markets. I cut my teeth on learning how to build websites. I fumbled my way through marketing it. I hustled!!!

The reason for starting that particular business was the idea that if I could make enough money to take the fam on a great holiday once a year, without having to dip into my corporate salary or my husbands wages, then I was a happy camper.

However, as time went by, I realised that I was totally selling myself short! That there was a whole internet-y world out there that I could sink my teeth into.. and so I did.

I did some training and decided to put myself out there and started coaching and mentoring online.

My goals were to make enough so I could resign from my job and replace my income from that. That was pretty much the big hairy ass WHY as to why I started this business way back in 2010. Then, I got a taste for it!

I loved the travel and I wanted more of that, so that became more of my why.

I loved the money. That became more of my why.

I loved taking the family away on holidays. That became more of my why.

I loved meeting people who thought similarly to me. Who had BIG wide views of the world. Who were positive, enthusiastic, supportive and entrepreneurial. That became part of my why.

I loved buying expensive things. That became part of my why.

I loved the fact that I was helping people globally and that fuelled my why.

I loved the impact I was creating. That became part of my why.

As the years went on, my why became more robust, and just like our core values and how they can shift and re-prioritise over time, the same with my why.

The things that used to fuel me and my why don’t all do it for me these days.

I am very much driven by freedom these days. I am very much driven by impact. I am very much driven by being available.

The money and the things and the stuff and the travel are great…. But things have shifted a little for me. Again J

The thing with priorities is that they’re not rigid. They shift. The change. There’s an ebb and rise and flow and shift that happens. I used to think there was something wrong with me or that I was ‘bad’ or not driven enough or not ‘motherly’ enough or not… well.. enough.

There was some ill-conceived belief that in order to be successful I had to be ‘on’ and ‘at it’ 24/7/365.

So as we come into the tail end of the year and we start eyeballing the new year, determine what it is that YOU want.

What do you want? What are your motivators for doing what you do? What drives you? What’s important?

And it’s more than okay for that to be whatever it is going to be. Time? Money? Hustling? Taking a step back? Family? More ‘balance’ – in a way that works for you?

No matter what, trust that you make the right decisions.

And don’t let anyone else tell you how you should have your priorities! Just decide and then act on them. You can always change your mind later!

(This of course doesn’t mean you self-sabotage! Commit. Act. Repeat).

Nic x