Here’s a question…
Are you building your business around what people already understand — or what they haven’t learned to want yet?
There’s a difference. And sometimes, that difference is what separates a good business from a great one.
Let’s consider Howard Schultz, the man who helped turn Starbucks into a global brand.
In the early 1980s, Starbucks was a small Seattle retailer selling coffee beans and equipment. It wasn’t the coffeehouse empire we know today.
Then Schultz took a trip to Italy.
He walked into Italian espresso bars and noticed something interesting. People weren’t just buying coffee. They were gathering, talking, connecting, and creating a daily ritual around it.
He saw something that others had overlooked.
Coffee didn’t have to be just a product. It could be an experience.
Schultz returned to Seattle determined to bring that concept to America. He wanted to create a place between home and work where people could slow down, connect, and feel that they belonged.
But there was a problem.
The original Starbucks owners weren’t convinced. They were focused on selling coffee beans, not building a chain of espresso bars.
So in 1986, Schultz left and started his own coffeehouse business, Il Giornale. He eventually acquired Starbucks in 1987 and began building the company around the vision he’d developed.
The result was a business that transformed how millions of people experienced an everyday product.
Now, here’s what I find most interesting about this story.
Schultz didn’t invent coffee. He didn’t invent the espresso machine. And he certainly didn’t invent the idea of people gathering over a cup of coffee.
His advantage was seeing a different possibility in something everyone else already knew.
And that brings us to a lesson for every entrepreneur in this room.
Your next breakthrough may not come from inventing something entirely new.
It may come from looking at what you’re already doing and asking a better question.
What do your customers really want?
What problem are they trying to solve beneath the obvious problem?
What experience could you create that your competitors aren’t even thinking about?
Because people don’t always buy the thing you’re selling. They buy what that thing makes possible.
They don’t just buy a service. They buy peace of mind.
They don’t just hire a consultant. They buy clarity, confidence, and the feeling that someone finally understands their problem.
And they don’t just invest in a product. They invest in the future they imagine it will provide for them.
So here’s your challenge.
Stop looking at your business only through the eyes of the person delivering the product or service.
Start looking through the eyes of the person experiencing it.
Ask yourself: What am I really selling? And what could this become if I thought bigger?
Because sometimes, the greatest business opportunity isn’t hiding in a new product, a new market, or a new technology.
It’s hiding inside the way you already see the world — waiting for you to see it differently.