“Why are you here? Why did you come to convention?” Rob Morris, the VP of Culture and Community, asked a room of thousands of women and a handful of men at the recent Younique convention. The room was silent. He told us to take out our pen and think about it for a moment and then to write down anything that came to us.
If I’m being honest my first thought was: I really really needed a girls’ weekend, and I knew that a long weekend with my Y sisters (and my old roomie from college before convention) would be just that.
Of course it was more than that too though, but it wasn’t an “exercise” or question I’d asked myself in awhile in regards to my business. But the convention speakers were going to get us thinking about it, because in another session, we were asked something similar: “what is your vision? Why do you do what you do?”
Convention Speakers Asked Me: “Why do you do what you do?”
I’m glad they asked us to think about these things, because in the last year or so I’ve been focused on taking care of my customers and helping my team grow their own businesses. In the craziness of every day life and juggling working at home with, well, life, I’d become a tad disconnected from my “why” — my purpose — in what I do.
It didn’t take me long to reassess. In fact, simply giving myself permission to just sit and consider the question was all I needed.
Everything I do — everything, and that even includes my freelance — is about empowering people. Sure I sell makeup, but that’s not WHY I do what I do. Rather, I’m in the business of building confidence.
My Mission: To Build Confidence in Women Everywhere
I build confidence with the women who shop with me. My goal is to help them find makeup that helps them feel beautiful and confident. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received messages that say, “ignore the zit on my face” or “please delete this terrible photo of me after you see it.” These women are all beautiful, but sometimes they have a hard time seeing it. If it takes a little bit of makeup to help build their confidence? I’m there to help.
I build confidence with the women who join my team. Some worry that people will judge them, that they’ll be criticized for their makeup skills or lack thereof. Some worry that no one will watch their videos. We all have these stories we tell ourselves of what we can or cannot do, and those stories can be so limiting… but I’m determined to help women change the stories they tell themselves. A lot of the training I’ve done with my team is about mindset, about breaking through self-limiting beliefs and practicing putting ourselves — our authentic selves — out there.
There it is, my mission: to build confidence in women everywhere.
It’s About a Whole Lot More Than Makeup
So yes, Younique convention is all about makeup and skincare and beauty. But it’s about a whole lot more than that too.
I’m incredibly thankful for that moment when we were asked to think about our vision and our mission statement. It gave me the permission to sit down and take a few moments to think about my “why” — and our why, our reason for what we do, can be so incredibly powerful. (So I’m not surprised at all that next year’s Younique convention theme is “Live your Y.”).
What is your why? Why do you do what you do? I’d love to hear what your vision and mission statement are in the comments below.
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