The Most Important Question: Ask “Why” Before Starting a Business

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In our new podcast, we spoke with Thom King, a serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Steviva. After finding success in his own businesses, he explains why asking yourself “why” is so vital before launching your organization.

Thom King is an entrepreneur, author, and self-described ‘bio-hacker.’ He has made it his life’s work to study food science and use his knowledge to help people. Thom is perhaps best known as the founder and CEO of Steviva, one of the largest importers, manufacturers, and distributors of clean-label sweetening systems and natural sweeteners. He founded Steviva as a way to effectively help combat metabolic disease and the “diabesity” (his self-coined term) epidemic in this country by offering clean-label sweetening systems to replace sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup. Thom’s ultimate goal is to also develop an online learning center to share his knowledge and fortune by establishing a foundation dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs engaged in new advances in dietary health and wellness.

Thom started his businesses – including Steviva – by asking himself a simple but invaluable question: “why?” At Petite2Queen, we often tout how important it is to know your customer’s “why,” but how does this concept translate to entrepreneurship? Thom reveals why this question is so important to ask yourself when developing a business. As he explains, you need to know your true motivations when starting a business. Your motivation will determine your success, because it will make the difference between how much effort into it. Further, people can see right through flimsy motivations. Do you just want to get rich? Or do you want to truly help the world?

As Thom has said, his business isn’t simply something he does for a living; it’s a testament to who he is and how he lives his life. He reveals how he enacts this belief in his day-to-day work, as well as how it translates for larger projects. His advice is actionable, and implementing it in your own life can lead to greater successes.

While it’s clearly important to ask why, there are other things you need to know, too. What are some of the most common mistakes that people make when starting a business, and how can we avoid them? How do we fix things if we make one of these mistakes? In Thom’s opinion, this is no such thing as a mistake. The mindset that sees things as “mistakes” can be a harmful one. Instead, retrain your mind to look at this as an opportunity to pivot and fine-tune.

From here, Thom then shares some of the key habits and mindsets that entrepreneursneed to be successful. How can we cultivate these ways of being? Thom offers a few actionable ideas, such as writing in a journal every day. If you’re not sure how to get the most out of your journaling experience, start with some of the questions Thom suggests on our podcast. They can be instrumental in better understanding yourself and your motivations.

Thom also talks about “catalysts” and exponential growth points for businesses. How can we recognize these catalysts? Where can they lead us? Thom reveals some of his catalysts over the years and how he grew from them.

Finally, Thom describes some of his role models and who has inspired him. He’s all about sharing his knowledge and wisdom to help guide and inspire new entrepreneurs. We hope this podcast provided some tips that will be useful to you as you start your own business.

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