How To Make an Impact By Discovering “What Is Your What?”
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Today our guest is Steve Olsher, the New York Times bestselling author of What Is Your What. Steve’s mission is to use his own successes and failures as an entrepreneur and the chairman and founder of Liquor.com to help other individuals discover, share and monetize their own unique gift and mission in life.
A Born Entrepreneur
Wired to earn money from a very young age, Steve pursued many endeavors, from raking leaves and pumping gas to making music and DJing. He opened a night club at the age of 19, which gave him his first real taste of creating something and bringing it to fruition.
When he was plagued with doubt and concerned about failure before jumping into his first entrepreneurial endeavor, Steve was motivated by the advice of a friend who encouraged him to go for it by pointing out “if things don’t work out, you can always go back to pumping gas.” This became a mantra for Steve because it signified the simple fact that if things don’t work out, you can always find something to fall back on, as menial and low-paying as it may be.
You either win…or you learn
When it comes to the inevitable disappointments and failures that come with pursuing life as an entrepreneur, Steve points at that “you either win or you learn.” After his nightclub business came to an unprofitable end, he moved on to one endeavor after another and continued to ride a roller coaster of financial success and failure, first with the dot-com bubble, and then again when the real estate market imploded.
The Birth of “What Is Your What”
When his stepfather was dying, Steve was faced with a vision of his own funeral, imagining that the eulogy would say, “Here lies Steve Olsher. He dedicated his life to chasing the almighty dollar.” At the same time, his stepfather implored him to find more meaningful work, and Steve realized he had to make a choice of what to do with his vision.
Steve knew he was meant and made for something extraordinary, but all of the existing personality assessments and self-improvement philosophies left him with more questions than answers.
This is what lead him to develop the “What Is Your What” framework.
Steve points out that there’s a saying among authors that you write the book that you most need. And just as Steve knew he was meant for something extraordinary, he saw that same potential in everyone else, as well. And so he wrote What Is Your What in order to have a far-reaching impact.
Discovering Your Innate Purpose
Steve’s mission is to wake people up to the notion that they have something unique unto themselves that other people are waiting for them to deliver. And while we all have this innate purpose in our DNA, many people die without discovering it because they lack clarity on how to zero in on that purpose and then put it into practice. Your gift can be anything – entertaining, writing, healing, etc. But Steve points out that most of us don’t want to let go of the other things we identify with in order to pursue that one true gift that is more dominant than the others.
The “What is Your What” framework consists of three legs:
- Determine what your one true gift is.
- Figure out what vehicle or method you will use to share that gift with others.
- Find the people you are most compelled to serve.
Expect the vehicle you will use and the people you are most compelled to serve to be organic and fluid and to change over course of your life, but remember that your innate gift is static and unchanging.
Steve asserts that “your what has chosen you – you can’t choose it.”
To find out what your one true gift is and put the “What Is Your What” framework into practice, you can get the book it for free at Whatisyourwhat.com/free
