what's your why?

What is your Why, why do you do what you do, why do you love it, why are you passionate about it? And why is having a strong enough why so essential to every aspect of your business?
 
Because without a strong enough Why in a hospitality or tourism business you will struggle to get through the rough days. There will be hard days, those days when you walk into your venue and the shiny and newness has worn off, when you have to drag yourself out of bed early in the morning only to work until the late hours of the night. Days when you struggle to pay your bills or your staff, days when you invest in training people only for staff to leave you a month later.

Your Why needs to be strong because that will inevitably be what keeps you getting up day after day. Running a venue is like running a marathon, you need to be consistent and keep putting one foot in front of the other to achieve success. And even when you achieve the success you can’t for one minute let your standards drop as you are only as good as your last service and you are only as good as the last interaction you had with a customer.
 
The hours are long, and the only way that you will achieve real success in the industry is to work your tail feather off. It is also important to know why you do what you do for other reasons.
 
Take branding and brand awareness for example. Knowing why you get up every day will help you develop a consistent brand over time, and your brand is more than just a logo, it is how to interact with your guests, how you treat your staff and ultimately how you make people feel in your venue.
 
When you know why you do what you do you should have the basis for a powerful and definite path. The path will undoubtedly change, and you will need to be ever evolving to stay current in the industry.
 
However people will buy into your brand because you make them a believer and because you take the extra care to ensure they have a great experience in your venue. People will come back because you have put your heart and soul into your business and you make them feel like you care about them every time they walk in your doors. If your why is not strong enough it will be harder and harder to develop a profitable business. On the good days but especially on the hard days.
 
You need to love it, you need to live and breath it and you need to feel it and ensure that your whole team feels it too in order to make a venue a success. When you're why is strong your customers will feel it too.
 
“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.” -- Maya Angelou
 
Love to hear your thoughts, KB