- Simon Sinek wrote an amazing book called
"It Starts With Why."
And if you've not checked it out,
I would advise you to go and check it out
and either have a listen to it or have a read
or whatever takes your fancy.
I first came across it as a video on YouTube
and it was one of those things which just kinda struck me
and made me understand
why marketing can work really well for your business.
And while I was thinking about that recently,
it got me thinking back to
why do I do the things that I do?
Why do I go out and talk to people about business,
about marketing and about coaching and mentoring?
Why is it that I do that?
And I wanted to share that with you today.
So I was born with Spina Bifida and a Clubfoot,
which meant that from a young age,
I had two fairly decent bits of surgery at least
before I went to school.
And they did a great job, the surgeons were amazing.
They gave me a back and foot which has functioned
pretty much all the way through
to where I am now in the mid 40s,
and hopefully continue from that place forward.
But it wasn't until I got to the age of 20
that I had problems which
needed further medical intervention.
When I was 20, I went out for a weekend in Paris
with my dad and a few friends.
And I ended up walking quite far that night
and I'd had a little bit to drink.
And that walking combined with something called Neuropathy,
which is a loss of sensation
meant that I ended up with a big ulcer in my foot.
Now I didn't know that I had neuropathy up until that point.
And so after initially going to see my nurse
at the local doctor surgery,
she treated me for a while
and then she referred me on to a podiatrist
and at that point, I didn't know what a podiatrist was.
And it was that podiatrist who healed my foot for me
and got me back up to a foot which functioned as well
as it was going to.
They also help with an ulcer I had about eight years later
and they heal that one too.
But it was my first introduction to podiatry
and what it could do to help people.
Even though I'd had that experience,
it was going to be another few years
before I retrained to be a podiatrist.
And I worked as a podiatrist,
both on the NHS at different levels,
I did a Masters degree,
I had my own business, I ran that and sold that.
And then I turned to coaching and mentoring.
And there was a particular reason why I did that.
And that reason is, I wanted to help
as many people as possible to understand exactly where to go
if they had a foot or leg problem.
Because let's face it, podiatry, foot health,
whatever you wanna call it in the UK,
is not well known as an industry, as a profession
and we have a lot of people who really don't know
where to go for their foot health
and they end up going to the GP
or they go to another professional.
And because we're not so good at marketing ourselves
and promoting ourselves, we get a little bit shy about it.
People don't know where to come to get
the best possible treatment for their problem.
And while I was promoting my own practise,
I kinda realised that other people
weren't doing it in the same way, other people
weren't putting themselves out there the same way.
And I made a decision to sell my practice
so I could concentrate and focus on helping other people
with their businesses, with their marketing,
with their mindset with all their personal development.
And this comes back to my why.
And it's a question I asked myself a huge amount,
is how can I make sure that everyone with a foot problem
knows exactly where to go for the health of their feet?
And for me, it's quite a simple answer.
And that answer is, you make sure that everyone is educated
in how to deal with foot problems.
Everyone who's involved in the industry knows exactly
what they need to do
and where they fit into that whole pathway.
But also, people know how to promote themselves
and how to talk to the general public
and talk to the world about what they do
and the difference it can make to people.
To put it this way, if I was 20 year old Dave again,
I mean, I'd love to be 20 years old again.
But if I was 20 year old Dave,
and I didn't know who to go to, to get my ulcer sorted,
the outcome could have been far different.
I could have ended up with an ulcer which didn't heal.
I could have ended up with an amputation.
I might not have met my wife and had gorgeous children
and had the career that I've had so far
and had the opportunity and the choice.
It may have left me with fairly severe
mental health issues and depression.
And it's not to say that that would have happened.
But why would I want to take the chance?
To be in that position again,
I would want to know exactly
who to go to, what they could do, how they could help.
And I'd want to know if they aren't the person
who can help me that they know exactly who to send me to.
And I think we're a distance away from that.
We've still got a long way to go to make sure that everyone
knows exactly where to go for the health of their feet,
not just the general public and people
but within our industry as well.
And that is why I do the things that I do.
So I would encourage you to look back
at the things that you do, to look at your business
and look at your life and look at everything around it.
And understand why you do the things that you do.
Why did you become that person?
Why did you do that job?
Why did you train to do it?
Why is it you get up in the morning
and do the things that you do?
Because that why is massively powerful.
And when you find out that why, share it with people
because that why will help you to connect
with your audience,
connect with your patients and your customers
and your clients on a much deeper level.
And I can guarantee you've got a why,
which is just massively inspirational
and I would love to hear it.