Change your words. Change your world.

Exactly What to Say to Build a Purpose Driven Business

A purpose driven business is one that is measured based on a multitude of outcomes that while most certainly must include profit and sustainability, its leadership will likely also gauge its success based on how significant of an impact it has on a specific issue area and how engaged its employees or members are in its purpose.

Often at the core of a purpose driven business is the idea that there is a collective community of individuals interested in more than just the financial and operational outcomes of the product or service that they provide, but in the impact that a successful business can have on a community or issue area when its profits are in part used to give back to the communities it serves.

Additionally, building a purpose driven business with a community first approach to marketing and branding not only allows for a significant competitive advantage when executed at a high level by creating the opportunity for customer discovery and brand loyalty, but it also creates one of the most sustainable lead generation tools through active and engaged communities that encourage business growth through reliable networks.

Staying in Curiosity

When embarking on the path of building a purpose driven business, it is helpful to stay in curiosity as you uncover what your community needs most from you and what unique talents you have to make the greatest impact on them. For many, it’s easy to recall a time in our lives when we were served in the way we want to serve others or the opposite – when we could have benefited from the support that we hope to provide.

Asking questions of the community you want to serve and finding out what they need starts with identifying the people we need to be asking more questions of. Finding these people can look like assembling focus groups, sending out email surveys, or even calling your clients to ask them directly for their feedback.

What is your experience with...

“What is your experience with” and “How would you feel if” are powerful openers for questions that seek first to understand what it’s like to walk in the shoes of those you want to help most whether it be your clients, your community, or even your employees.

Taking the time to explore the needs of those you are looking to serve from a place of curiosity and staying curious long enough to feel genuine empathy rather than moving too quickly to posing solutions will open up dialogue that will ultimately lead to more effective conversations that will provide clarity about the needs of your community and how you are uniquely positioned to support them.

How important is it...

Asking “how important is it” helps to bring purpose to your activities and ensure that through the process of prioritizing our clients’ needs, we can be the ones to bring the most needed solutions to them. “How important is it that you have a community?”, “How important is it that you feel safe?”, “How important is it that you are able to pick up your kids from school?” – whether redesigning an employee handbook or creating a new outreach program, rooting your purpose in the clarity of other’s helps to create real and lasting relationships.

Why it matters

When I started my real estate business, it was important to me that our company stood for something more than just doing our job well. I wanted to be known for doing good work on top of doing great work and I wanted to create a platform where others were empowered and inspired to do better.

Community is my coping mechanism and its been the only way I’ve known how to take big leaps – on the backs of and holding hands with others. You see, relationships are the foundations for opportunities – opportunities to grow, to partner, to change, to impact change – I truly believe every connection is the opportunity to change the world – we just don’t always know where the relationship is going to take us, which opportunity it is going to lead to, or what action we’ll have to take or ask others to take to do the right next thing.

Community is all around us from the neighborhoods we live in to the jobs that occupy our days to the family members we hold close. There are parts of community that happen naturally, organically, out of necessity and others that take intention, planning and nurturing. Building community, or being a community builder, is about intentionally creating the space or the rooms for people to be in community with each other and providing the blueprint or the outline for how to be in community with others.

From organizing a neighborhood Friendsgiving or movie night in the park to building an entire purpose driven business whose strategy for growth is based on a community brand strategy, community building is based on the principals of curiosity, empathy and courage.

By taking time to understand what your community needs most, you can create an effective strategy for furthering your goal of building an ambassador program for your business, a more engaged and interdependent neighborhood, more awareness and ultimately more funding for the social mission you are so passionate about.

Remembering to ask questions and staying in curiosity, determining who you need to be in conversation with and what relationships you need to foster, and ultimately creating the opportunities that will open the doors to the actions that you can take to make real and lasting change will be the competitive advantage in your purpose driven business.  

Mindy Jones

Mindy Jones

Mindy Jones is the owner of the Amy Jones Group, an all-female owned and operated real estate team. She is also the founder of Community On Purpose, a non-profit organization serving women and families through volunteerism and community giving.

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