If you are not a Simon Sinek fan, your ‘why’ is what drives you to do something irrespective of the challenges, when times are hard, when self-doubt creeps in, when you’d much rather pull the covers up and just stay in bed.
For many years money was my why, materialism/status my driver.
The ups and downs of working in the city produced the highest of financial highs and the lowest of financial lows.
Then, working salaried jobs for 10 years after that with incremental pay rises along the way led to comfort. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb famously said: “The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”
I was hooked (to the last one), and the cycle of working to buy stuff to make me feel less unhappy about working the job I didn’t believe in.
I’ve always wanted to work for myself but no guaranteed pay at the end of the month is scary.
Everything changed when my first daughter was born in 2017.
I suddenly realised time was more important than money. I didn’t want to see her for only 10 mins before bedtime on a weekday.
Taking her to nursery and picking her up again was my favourite thing to do.
I wanted to watch her grow up.
This was the catalyst to make a change, to start taking the side hustle more seriously and steering it to becoming something bigger. I wanted to be in charge of my working hours and not sacrifice being a dad.
Now I have two daughters so my why has doubled. If I can shake up the survey industry at the same time, then that is just a bonus!
I want this business to be an inspiration for my girls. I want them to be proud of what I’m building. Their future drives me on everyday.