Ikigai is a Japanese term that means "A Reason for Being". What is your reason for being? And how can you incorporate that into your personal brand? What do you bring to the world that is so uniquely you and creates your brand?

Let's start by asking ourselves some important questions:

1) What are you good at?

This can be easy AND this can be hard. Think of what everybody else is constantly saying about you. Or even better, ASK the people who know you best what they think you are good at.  Sometimes, what you are hardest on yourself about, you are actually pretty good at.

2) What do you love?

What is it that lights you up? Is it a hobby or a dream that you have? If I gifted you a whole day, all to yourself, what would you do?

Now take a moment and look at your two lists. At the intersection of what you’re good at and what you love is your passion. Who doesn’t love discovering or reaffirming what they are passionate at?  Can you circle or draw connections between things on your first list and things on your second? This is a good insight into what you are passionate about.

3) What does the world need?

I’m talking both big and small. This can be something on a global scale or a simple daily annoyance that needs attention. Maybe the world needs more laughter….it definitely needs more love and healing. What do YOU think the world needs?

Just like there was an intersection between what you’re good at what you love, there is also an intersection between what you love and what the world needs. This is called your Mission. 

4) What can you be paid for?

You are creating a business and that means that you need to make money. The more money you make, the bigger impact you can have and the greater good you can bring to the world. What would someone pay good money to have? This is the question that every entrepreneur asks. The better you get at answering this question, the more likely you are to be successful. 

At the crossroads of this question, what can you be paid for and what you’re good at is your profession, and at the crossroads of what you can be paid for and what the world needs is your vocation. 

What if you were able to find something where all of these places overlapped? Where you could be good at what you’re doing, help the world, love the work you do and finally get paid for it? This is your Ikigai. This is your reason for being.

This should be the center of everything for your personal brand. 

If you want to find success, this is the work that you need to do. Maybe you’ve looked over your lists and thought, Great! This is validation that I’m doing exactly what I want and need to do. Then good for you. Keep moving in the right direction. Keep aligning yourself that way. But maybe you looked at your lists and they are nothing like what you’re doing. This is what’s keeping you stuck. You may not feel like you are mission driven. Your WHY isn’t big enough to keep you going. Or perhaps you aren’t loving what you do. Maybe at one point you thought it was for you, but now it’s time to make a serious pivot. Because you only have one life and you don’t want to get yourself STUCK doing things that aren’t of great worth and joy. This is the time to write down and be innovative. Which part of this isn’t working for you in the way you want it to? Work it out. Come up with ideas. Be brutally honest with yourself. It may be the best thing that you can do for your life and business.

To each of you out there, my hope is for you to find your ikigai. Head over to our FB Group and  let me know what your Reason for

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