thread Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes in Square Readers Book Club

Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

PessoAlumni — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 15:08:45 GMT

Hey Square Readers,

What are you highlighting so far?

We’d love for you to share your favorite lines and sections as you read Start with Why by Simon Sinek, our book for April and May.

What quotes have stood out to you? What are you highlighting or post-it note-ing?

Take and share pictures or screenshots of any sentences or paragraphs that are meaningful and stand out to you, along with the page number. Or if you’re listening to the audiobook, post in a timestamp or a sound clip!

Why did they stand out to you?

We can’t wait to see your favorite quotes, and we’ll be sure to use some of them for discussion and our end of book summary.

Here's my first one:

This quote really gets to the heart of what this book and philosophy is all about. I've heard a lot about this book with, and the quote "People don't buy what you do, they buy Why you do it" has stuck with me for a long time. I've found that it's really true for me as a customer, and in my businesses. I always said that I wasn't selling ice cream, I was selling a feeling. It wasn't about the product, the product was just a method to get that feeling of community, family, happiness -- made by hand by people who cared. I knew that my customers would have come to us no matter what we made, as long as it was true to that mission and vision. They didn't buy the ice cream, they bought the feeling.

I'll put some more of mine in the comments below too!

Happy reading,

Pesso

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

PessoAlumni — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 15:05:06 GMT

Here are some more quotes from this book that have been really impactful for me, and get down to the core essence of Start With Why:

This is absolutely key. Aligning your beliefs and your actions and being completely genuine is the crux of being a trustworthy business. And if you don't have your customers' trust, you don't have much.

If you can achieve that level of loyalty, your business is almost invincible. I know that I am this way with certain brands and businesses. I'll absolutely buy certain things without looking at the price because I know that what they sell is worth it, and their prices are fair according to what they need to charge. I'll go out of my way and pay no matter the price in order to have the thing they're selling.

I love this one so much. Whenever we hired new employees, the big thing we looked for is the passion. Most of our employees were customers first. They were people who grew up coming to our shop and had core memories with us. Everything else we could teach, but you can't teach belief and connection and passion.

I never really worried about losing sales too much. If someone didn't connect or understand what we were doing, they weren't going to be our customers for one reason or another. Of course if our core customers were getting upset with our decisions, we knew something was wrong and we weren't being true to our Why -- but if we were doing what we knew was aligned and we lost customers, they weren't really our core folks anyway.

This is so true for small business owners. We're absolutely not in it just for the money. If we were, we would probably pick something easier. We're in it for the passion, and making sure our customers see and know and feel that it's true is a hard thing to achieve sometimes.

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

coachkevin71 — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 15:01:47 GMT

WoW! This is a POWERFUL quote!

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

PessoAlumni — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 19:49:37 GMT

Thanks @coachkevin71 - I'm so glad you connect with it!

What has been your favorite quote so far?
I'd love to hear it!

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

YBF — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 20:38:13 GMT

“All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year.”

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

PessoAlumni — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 20:53:07 GMT

I absolutely love this, @YBF -- thanks for sharing!

I'd love to hear why this is impactful to you -- what does this mean for you and your business?

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

YBF — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 12:52:52 GMT

Because I get so involved with the financials and the measurement of success by volume that I forget why. I can start to take for granted that it is because of XYZ instead of why. That leads me to get competitor focused which tends to drift me towards price wars.

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

PessoAlumni — Mon, 08 May 2023 13:13:39 GMT

That makes a lot of sense, and is definitely an easy path to start slipping down, @YBF .

What are some practical things can you do to keep focused on the Why instead of competitors and other issues?

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

Smellthis1919 — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 23:20:47 GMT

I love how you put the quotes here in one place ...what an awesome idea ...its so helpful

Looking forward to our next discussion on the 1 page marketing plan 😀 👍 started it and it's already a thumbs up for me

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

PessoAlumni — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 13:29:59 GMT

Thanks so much @Smellthis1919 ! Feel free to add any that you like too!

Fantastic! I'll be starting up one of this for that book too -- looking forward to seeing you in our discussions

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

Smellthis1919 — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 15:16:59 GMT

I sure will try to do that ...this is a great business support group

Thanks again for starting it 👍☺️

Re: Start with Why: Share your Favorite Quotes

DinaLRosenberg — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 20:12:48 GMT

I am super late in this discussion..

I have been in sales my entire life.. and it's always been about believing in the product. We've followed suit in our shop- we only sell what we love and what has value. We try not to "yuck other people's yum" but the value has to be there.