IKIGAI is a Japanese term for “a reason for being.” The word ‘Ikigai’ is usually refers to the source of value in one’s life or the things that make one’s life worthwhile. The word roughly translates to the “thing that you live for” but it also has the … “the reason for which you wake up in the morning” similar to a daily purpose.
Here in elevate, we love to talk about “making more money”, How many people here would say that “making more money” is what they live for, the reason they get up in the morning?
What’s great about our emphasis on “making more money” is people have a lot of “stuff” about money so when we say we are about “making more money” here, we get to see if it really resonates with us or if some part of us says “no, money is bad” or “If I make more someone else gets less”.
So lets reframe the money thing for a second.
It is not unusual to have unconscious issues around money, we are programmed by our environment and the way our folks related to money is contagious.
Sayings like “money is the root of all evil” and “rich people live off the backs of the poor” are examples of this kind of stuff. We can do a whole workshop on this, and actually lots of people do, we used to have a money coach who did just that- we only have a minute so let’s keep it simple today.
First, money is representative. There are all kinds of things money represents to people, but on the most basic level it represents the value we set on our product- coaching, law, new house, cabinets whatever- Now what people are buying is the solution to their problem that our product represents to them, so we are really helping them when we enroll them in or sell them our product. We are helping them solve a problem and move forward in their lives.
In business, there is a saying that what is measured can be improved. There are a lot of ways to measure success, and in business the most basic is gross sales and profitability.
Sticking with gross sales, if we are taking in a lot of money, a lot people are receiving value, and if we are not… then no they are not.
So I’m challenging you to view the money you are taking in as a measure of your success, not your financial success, but your ability to help people solve their problems, and possibly even how well you are living your ikigai, your reason for getting up in the morning.
How much money we receive represents how much value we are delivering to our clients.
The more clients we help in the delivery of the product we create, the more money we have in hand.
Most of us don’t get up in the morning thinking “my life mission today is to make more money”, but when you think about it, “making more money” is representative of how many people we are helping and how successful we are in living our ikigai.
So go help more people (and make more money).