I have been thinking about a Post I wrote, #95…NOTHING.
This one is the opposite.
It is my EVERYTHING.
A few years ago, I did something.
I was living in a small building at the time.
Before I launched it, and it was in its formative stages, my neighbour found out what I was up to.
The nicest guy you would ever want to meet.
He and his lovely wife lived next door.
He was an Advertising Executive with a huge agency.
His work has won countless awards.
He was the guy that would be the ‘go to’ when a company was creating a unique and themed concept, say for the Olympics.
Long story short, he took me under his wing.
He told me to stop where I was.
Do not do anything else.
Go back and write your ‘why.’
Write your ‘why,’ like the real ‘why,’ the from the heart ‘why,’ and as you write, he said, everything will fall into place.
I did.
I sent him my first draft.
He sent it back to me and said, ‘No, the real why.’
That is all he said.
I wrote the second draft, but I did not send it to him.
I knew it was just a revised first draft.
I went for a ride to clear my head.
I got home, deleted everything, and started again.
‘Come on, TJ, the real why, the from the heart why.’
‘Why are you doing this?’
You know exactly why, share it.
I started to type, and it flowed.
It flowed so fast that my fingers could not keep up.
I read it over and made zero revisions.
I sent it to him.
It came back with, ‘There you go, and away you go.’
I used my ‘Why’ as the ‘ABOUT’ section on the site.
Everyone commented on it.
EVERYONE.
The product did well, but it really was all about ‘my why.’
It changed everything for me.
EVERYTHING.
I now approach things with this as my first goal.
I look for it online, or perhaps even better, it finds me.
I analyze advertising.
I analyze Instagram.
I look for the ‘why.’
I look for the ‘story.’
I realized what sells a product is not the product.
It is the ‘why.’
It is the ‘story.’
Some are masters at this.
I find some can be moving.
Emotional.
I was on a ride the other day, and I rode past a man.
He looked like my neighbour, and I thought about him.
How lucky I was to have met him.
Had him as a neighbour.
I texted him and told him how much he still influences everything I do and thanked him for that.
Here are a couple of beautiful examples on Instagram.
I love how the product is secondary.
…BUT subtly primary.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DB1jC-jSXiC/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3h2fmYsWPW/
https://www.instagram.com/p/C8r9m6-vvlg/
https://www.instagram.com/p/DDchLDrNILy/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DChFn7hiwyk/
A well done ‘why.’
A well done ‘story.’
Be true to yourself with everything you do, ‘Write the real why.’
‘Tell Your Story, and Everything Will Fall into Place.’
Insert open book emoji here.
‘Dress Confidently. Ride Boldly. Ride YOU.’