Value: The Foundation of Every Business

Why do businesses exist?

It is a simple question, but I think many aspiring entrepreneurs don't spend enough time thinking about it.

We often start with the wrong questions.

What business should I start?

What product can I sell?

How much money can I make?

What name should I give my business?

How do I market it?

All of these questions have their place. But there is a more fundamental question we need to answer first:

What value am I creating?

Because at the heart of every business is value.

A business exists because it provides something that another person considers useful, helpful, desirable or important enough to exchange something for.

That exchange is usually money, but the principle goes deeper than money.

You have something that someone else needs or wants, and your business provides a way of getting that value to them.

That is the foundation of business.

Don't Start With What You Want to Sell

One of the things I have noticed when I listen to aspiring entrepreneurs is that many people begin with a product.

They say,

"I want to sell clothes."

"I want to start a restaurant."

"I want to sell cosmetics."

"I want to offer digital marketing services."

There is nothing wrong with these ideas. But the product or service is not the starting point. The starting point is the value behind it.

If you want to sell clothes, what value are you really providing?

Maybe you are helping people look good.

Maybe you are helping them express their identity.

Maybe you are providing affordable clothing for people who cannot afford certain brands.

Maybe you are helping professionals dress appropriately for work.

The clothes are the vehicle through which you deliver that value.

The same applies to almost every other business. A person may not really want a website. They may want more credibility.

They may not really want a marketing service. They may want more customers.

They may not really want a business course. They may want the confidence and knowledge to finally start the business they have been thinking about for years.

People don't simply buy products and services. They buy the value they believe those products and services will create for them.

Understanding that distinction is important.

Your Skills Are Not Automatically Your Value

This is something I have had to learn in my own journey.

You can be good at something and still struggle to build a business around it.

Why? Because being skilled and creating value are not exactly the same thing.

You may know how to design websites.

You may know how to speak publicly.

You may know how to write.

You may know how to cook.

You may know how to market a business.

You may have years of experience in a particular field.

Those are valuable assets.

But the question is:

What can someone else achieve because you have those skills?

That is where your skills begin to become value.

For example, saying, "I am a digital marketer" tells me what you do.

But saying, "I help small businesses attract and convert customers using digital tools" tells me the value you create.

The first statement is about you. The second is about the person you help.

That difference really matters.

Because your customer is not primarily interested in what you know. They are interested in what your knowledge can do for them.

Value Starts With a Problem

If you are trying to start a business, one of the best things you can do is look for problems.

What are people struggling with?

What takes too much of their time?

What costs them too much money?

What are they trying to achieve but don't know how to achieve?

What frustrates them?

What do they wish was easier?

What are they already spending money to solve?

These questions can lead you to opportunities.

Sometimes we think entrepreneurship is about coming up with a completely new idea. That isn't always the case.

Sometimes entrepreneurship is simply about looking at an existing problem and finding a better way to solve it.

If you can solve a problem that matters to people, you have the beginning of a business.

The bigger or more important the problem, the more likely people are to value a good solution.

And this is why I believe that entrepreneurship is fundamentally about creating value.

The Customer Determines Whether the Value Is Real

There is another lesson that is important here. You cannot simply decide that something is valuable because you think it is.

You can spend months creating a product. You can put your heart and soul into it. You can believe it is the best thing you have ever created. But if the person you created it for doesn't see the value, you have a problem.

This doesn't necessarily mean the product is bad. It could mean that you are solving a problem people don't care enough about. It could mean you are talking to the wrong people. Or it could simply mean that you haven't communicated the value clearly enough.

This is why understanding your customer is so important. You need to understand what matters to them. Because value is not determined only by what you create. It is also determined by what the other person experiences as a result of what you create.

A bottle of water may have very little perceived value to someone sitting at home with access to clean water. Put that same person somewhere where they are extremely thirsty and there is no convenient source of water, and the perceived value changes.

The water is the same. The circumstances are different. The need is different. And therefore the value is perceived differently.

Business Is an Exchange of Value

When you strip business down to its most basic form, it is an exchange. I give you something you value. You give me something I value.

You may give me money. I may give you a product.

Or I may provide a service that saves you time, helps you make money, solves a problem or helps you achieve something that matters to you.

This is also why price and value are not the same thing.

Price is what you pay.

Value is what you believe you are getting in return.

If I pay K1,000 for something that helps me make an additional K10,000, I may consider that a very good deal.

But if I pay K100 for something that does very little for me, I may consider it expensive.

So when you are thinking about your business, don't only ask:

"How much should I charge?"

Ask:

"What is the value of the outcome I am helping my customer achieve?"

That question can change how you think about your business.

Your Business Is the Vehicle for Your Value

I have come to think of a business as a vehicle for delivering value.

Your product is a vehicle.

Your service is a vehicle.

Your website is a vehicle.

Your social media content is a vehicle.

Your course is a vehicle.

Your business systems are vehicles.

They are different ways of taking something you have and making it useful to someone else.

And this is where things become interesting. Because once you understand the value you have to offer, you can begin looking for better ways to deliver it.

Maybe you can turn your knowledge into a course.

Maybe you can turn your experience into a consulting service.

Maybe you can create a template that helps people do something faster.

Maybe you can build software that solves a problem.

Maybe you can create content that teaches people something.

The possibilities become much greater when you stop asking, "What can I sell?" and start asking, "What value can I create?"

Start With Value

This is why I believe Value Clarity is so important.

Before you build the website, design the logo, create the social media pages or start spending money on advertising, you need to have some clarity about the value you are bringing into the marketplace.

Ask yourself:

What do I know?

What can I do?

Who can I help?

What problem can I solve?

What outcome can I help create?

Why does that outcome matter?

And perhaps most importantly:

Why should anyone care about the value I have to offer?

The answers will help you see your business differently. You stop seeing yourself as someone who simply has something to sell. You start seeing yourself as someone who has something to contribute. And I think that is a much better place to begin.

Businesses may be built around products, services, technology and systems. But underneath all of them is one thing: Value.

If there is no value being created, there is no real reason for the business to exist.

So before you ask yourself what business you should start, ask yourself a more important question:

What value can I create for someone else?

That may be where your real business begins.