Figuring out the Golden Circle’s “Why” for ehh Books

The Golden Circle is a concept to help discover a brand’s value proposition from Simon Senik. It starts with figuring out “why” a brand does what it does. Here’s a quick video where he talks about the golden circle and its origin.

Sinek’s theory is that successfully communicating the passion behind the “Why” is a way to communicate with the listener’s limbic brain. It processes feelings such as trust and loyalty, in addition, it helps with decision-making.

That gut feeling decision you can trust, at least that is my quick takeaway from the concept.

Before I ever discovered the Golden Circle the concept of money was always a secondary element. Sure it is important, it can help achieve a lot in life. However, it was also rather obvious which businesses focused on money instead of a deeper purpose.

Given the choice I want ehh Books to be a brand that has a deeper purpose than just making money.

Starting with Why

So if starting with “Why” is how you explain your purpose, motivation, and what you believe, it sounds like a great place to start for ehh Books.

Purpose?

Creating something that is different (to a point), is good quality, and gives the customer value.

Different and Print-on-Demand? I know, I know, that’s why I said to a point. So the goal is something that doesn’t fall under the mass-produced generic feeling. Something that has a bit more of a “this is me” level of flare. Ideally, or occasionally something that fits the unusual “this is me” groups. I started with that element when making the Goth Composition Notebook. It fit the unusual “this is me” category and it also applied to me so win-win.

Quality well, I needed to have a book to test that. Sure I could buy someone else’s book and see the physical quality that way. That felt a bit like an excuse to put off starting, so I decided to make a book first to test the physical quality. As to the quality of the content, good images and knowing various creative tools would help with that.

Value this will likely be a purpose that grows and evolves over time. Initially, though, the value would be a product that was a bit different and offered good quality. Building off of those, as an example, when it came to the idea of composition notebooks lined pages weren’t enough value. There needed to be something on the inside as well. Nothing too overbearing but a nice image that sat in the background was an increase in value.

Motivation?

I guess this is also where the money comes in, to a degree, I want to be able to spend more time with my kiddos. Money does help do that, but, I quickly realized I can teach them all of the skills I’m using. That increased the motivation factor as it meant meaningful time with my kids.

Added bonus I realized I could share those same skills with others. Not necessarily through the books themselves but how-to videos. If I made books other people found useful having videos on how those could be used or how I use them.

Now I’m getting somewhere! Not just making books but being able to build a brand where I share how we use the books. Err, I should explain “we” is in part myself, maybe my kiddos too, but primarily the idea of building a community.

I love the idea of seeing how others might use the books I make. Also, the chance to learn how others use my creations sounds amazing. A great chance to learn in terms of changes or what works when it comes to my products. That of course means creating a social media presence so that has been added to the list.

What do you believe?

I believe in fairies!

I believe that with a quality product you need to have a quality response. Specifically a human response. So beyond being a brand that creates books I also believe to succeed it needs to remain personable.

That will be done by interacting on a personal level as well as limiting the “robot” elements of the brand. As well as sharing stories about the brand, products, and hopefully soon from customers.