We’re almost five years in now and there’s a lot we’ve learned in this half a decade. We’ve done a near 180 degree turn in how we envisioned us to be. That has a little to do with short-sighted ignorance and also a little with natural progression and adaptation. What the heck do I mean by that?
I could mean a lot of things…I know, it’s pretty vague. And if I was to go in to details about all the things, this might become a very long book so let’s skip to the best part; the part that had the biggest impact on us and how we approach our business. Or more importantly, how it’s perceived. It’s the part that has literally given us, the partners at Aufsite, clarity. A “real” reason to wake up excited about going in to work (not literally “go in to work” though….I actually just grab my coffee and go in to my basement). Nevertheless, I look forward to it. Just a year ago I felt very different.
“Business, as it turns out, should be treated just like a person. And a person yearns for purpose. If you start to look at it this way, you’ll find it’s much easier to find a worthwhile course.”
Just as children mature and gain a better understanding of those around them, so too does business. Business, as it turns out, should be treated just like a person. And a person yearns for purpose. If you start to look at it this way, you’ll find it’s much easier to find a worthwhile course. Because when a person has a purpose lots of things begin to happen. They slowly start to figure out who they should be surrounding themselves by. And when they start spending time around the right folks, the synergies begin to culminate and beautiful things happen.
You don’t need to have a niche product or a cool toy…you need to show those around you what you value. Hopefully it’s not something like becoming rich or selling a ton of whatever. I mean something more fulfilling. I heard a world renowned leader mention something very powerful in a speech recently. He expressed that it is a goal of leaders to leave a lasting legacy. And when we look at our history, the past leaders who still have the greatest impact on the billions of people in this world are the likes of Jesus, Moses, Mohammad or Mother Theresa…their goal was to help humanity. Now, this is not to suggest that every business should be focused on helping humanity….that’s a wonderful goal, but maybe start out to solve a real problem folks are facing.
We dug deep at Aufsite and had a moment of clarity…we struggled for a few years prior because we didn’t have a clear purpose.
We always knew we could help companies be better from a technology perspective and we knew we could help them cut costs, but we didn’t really know who “they” were or what we were really trying to accomplish. And then it hit us….
While sitting back and looking at our customers we realized what we had unknowingly done. It was hiding there in plain sight. We found that our customers were nearly all small businesses. Businesses that brought us on because of the effort we were taking to understand their unique problems and finding solutions that made them competitive and efficient.
One customer in particular smacked our purpose right across our face.
It was a small manufacturing company with a few brick and mortar shops who brought us on three years ago. They wanted us to solve a multitude of their financial system problems. We helped them to get their systems in to the cloud and shortly there after, they were hit by a tragedy. A fire raged across the strip mall where their flagship store was located and it destroyed everything. The shop that was reduced to ashes once housed the book keeping server and many of our client’s most important documents. Luckily for them, all of that critical data had been securely moved to the cloud. Needless to say, they were extremely relieved and thankful to us.
Although we did something that held real value for them, what they did for us in helping us realize our purpose is priceless. It has given us unrelenting momentum and a true sense of fulfillment. And so now that experience has helped us define our mission.
We now live and breathe small business. And as we move past 2020, a year that has crippled small business…we want those small businesses to focus on the bright light at the end of the tunnel. We hope to be that light in as many ways as possible and help them thrive and grow for years to come.