Our dare today delves into the profound journey of identifying and embracing one's authentic customer—a pivotal step in crafting a successful venture that transcends mere profit-making.

We explore the significance of understanding not just the demographics of our clientele, but the emotional connection that binds us to them.

The discussion illuminates the transformative power of vulnerability and shared experiences, as we reflect on how our own challenges mirror those of our customers, fostering a deeper sense of purpose in our entrepreneurial pursuits.

We emphasize that the essence of our companies lies in serving others, and by focusing our intentions on a singular, meaningful customer, we unlock the potential to create substantial value.

As we embark on this quest, we encourage each listener to articulate who their authentic customer is and to ponder deeply why they care so profoundly about them—because, as we humorously assert, caring is indeed the secret sauce of innovation!

Takeaways:

1. The essence of a breakthrough year lies in identifying and serving your authentic customer with heartfelt dedication, transforming your business vision into a reality.
2. Vulnerability and openness in sharing experiences with others can profoundly impact our personal and professional growth, fostering a supportive community.
3. To truly innovate, one must tap into the deep care for customers, understanding their needs and challenges to drive meaningful change in their lives.
4. The significance of purpose in entrepreneurship cannot be overstated; it propels us forward and clarifies our mission in an ever-evolving market.

Chapters:

00:04 - Designing Your Breakthrough Year

02:07 - Understanding Your Authentic Customer

04:57 - Dedicating Your Company to a Cause

07:26 - Understanding Your Authentic Customer

10:14 - Designing Your Breakthrough Year

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Coco Sellman, the host of the Force for Good Business Show, believes business is a force for good, especially with visionary women at the helm. With over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, she has launched five companies and guided over 500 startups. As Founder & CEO of A Force for Good, Coco supports purpose-driven women founders in unlocking exponential growth and prosperity. Her recent venture, Allumé Home Care, reached eight-figure revenues and seven-figure profits in just four years before a successful exit in 2024. A venture investor and board director, Coco’s book, *A Force for Good*, reveals a roadmap for women to lead high-impact, high-growth companies.

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Hey.

Dear doer.

Oh, my gosh.

This is so powerful where you are right now in the quest, because you're really helping design your breakthrough year by being able to go through the sequence of steps that we're already going through, right?

With being able to really tap into why you started your company, your vision for your business, and what it can do beyond you now.

Tapping into what's going to stop you, what gets in your way, what are you worried will stop you?

And just being able to see so many of you interacting and just being open and vulnerable and being able to share your experiences from your heart and from that place of your own deep desire for what you want to do in the world.

It's just been so beautiful to see.

Thank you so much.

It's profound when we get to hear the vulnerability and truth of what each other is experiencing.

And what I love about it is I relate to every single message I hear.

Whether it's a challenge that I'm facing right now or a worry that's in my mind right now or something from the past or one that I can anticipate into the future.

We're all carrying, and we all carry those worries.

And the sooner we bring them to light, the faster we can transform them and turn them into our power.

I'm excited because this next piece is meant to help you refocus, then back on your power.

To me, the most exciting and wonderful place to look for your power is your customer.

You're building a company, and it's dedicated to be of service.

The purpose of our companies is to serve.

We are here to bring value.

And so having a customer in our hearts and minds that we're dedicated to is really powerful.

So the question we're going to ask is, who is your authentic customer and why do you care so much about them?

I see a lot of pitches, A lot of people put together their pitches, and we talk about what's the big market and the Tam, Sam and Zomb and what happens in that exercise.

And it's a useful exercise, but what happens is we start to think about our customer as numbers and as big groups out there.

But this question, very personalized.

Who is your authentic customer?

Who are you meant to serve?

Your company is meant to serve.

And what this does is it gives us the power to understand that we can be plentiful, that we have enough, and that all we need to do is focus on how to serve one customer.

And if we serve one customer with heart and soul and transformation and value, we will serve all of them in that way.

But first, we need to know in our hearts, not in our heads, who we are here to serve and why you care so much about them.

I started a force for good first, started writing a force for good thinking.

It was going to be for visionary founders.

And it wasn't until I really shifted and discovered it had to be women founders that it would matter to me.

Now I see a person.

Her name is Constance.

She's 42.

She has two kids.

She lives in Chicago, and she's building a health tech company that's designed to help bring more access to healthcare in little tiny places, little tiny communities in the world.

And so I'm dedicating a force for good my business to her.

The reason why I care so much about her is because she wants to make the world better.

She wants to bring health access to everyone in the country and everyone in the world who doesn't have it.

So I want to help her figure out how to scale.

I want her to gain access to capital.

I want to help her make sure that she has the support, knowledge, and the networks that she needs in order to make sure her company and all of its innovations thrive.

Right?

So this isn't just about, well, I have a $52 billion market.

This is.

I care about this person, and it can be specific.

And then you can dedicate your whole heart and mind to that and really sink your company into creating good.

I'll tell you another.

With Illume as a company, we had a joint authentic customer, Josephine.

We was her name, and we would talk about her in our meetings.

The mom of a child that we were bringing home from the hospital, and she was a mother with two other children.

She was Spanish speaking.

We would say, okay, well, Josephine is coming home from the hospital, and what does she need?

It was actually through studying Josephine and her experience and how it felt to be bringing home her baby from the hospital for the first time, her infant and with a vent and a trach, and bringing them home and having two other little ones and a dog and no husband around to help, that we were able to really understand her needs, her wants, and the transformation the company could bring to not just her baby's life, but her life, too.

And suddenly Josephine could go to work because she had nursing care and make sure other kids had what they need.

And Josephine could go to their soccer games because she had nursing care.

And so this is what we're looking for.

We're looking for you to dedicate your.

Your company to someone very specific.

The idea here is for you to move into your heart and understand who are you meant to serve and why do you care about them.

Your company does not have to serve everybody, and that's okay.

The more you can be specific, the more you can let your company be who you are able to be.

Right.

For example, a company that is super innovative and future forward, you probably don't want those customers who expect everything to be perfect all the time, because you're not perfect.

You want to be honest about who your customer is, and then you can serve them wholeheartedly.

Stacey, I know you have so much experience with customers.

What do you think about all that?

I love the stare because what you're doing, Coco, is you're like.

And I think that's with this quest, is really tapping us into the purpose.

Right.

Of why we're doing what we're doing so that we can have our breakthrough year by really tapping into that authentic customer.

We are waking up and we're excited because we want to help this person with that thing.

I actually have a specific person that I know that I've been able to see and help, and that's actually where I lean on, is that person.

Typically when I'm creating something new, I'll be like, okay, will she be able to do this?

And that's really helped guide me and helped me create a lot of the things that I'm doing now.

There's a lot of power in knowing who your authentic customer is.

I love the second part of this question, which is, why do you care so much about them?

Because I think there's something in there that might be a mirror of something of yourself that you had to work through, that you're now able to solve through this business you've created.

Yeah, no, that's right.

And we want to break through as well as just being able to create a company that can sustain and grow and beyond the founder, get beyond having five people and have 100 people working with you.

It requires a level of emotion that's not necessarily at the front of all business methodologies, but it's a secret sauce of women.

When we really tap in to what we care about, we have incredible power.

Think about this.

If you're a woman and you have children or something you care about in your life, there's nothing more innovative than care.

When you care about something, you figure it out.

You figure it out.

Your kid is going through something, you figure it out.

Your spouse, your friend, you figure it out.

When you care, it just releases a whole other order of brilliance.

Falling in love with your customer is one of the most powerful ways for you to figure out, what can I bring to this company?

What does this company need?

What's most important?

Because then you're going to look at all the things you do every day, and it's going to be like, how much of this is really in the service of this person I care about and how much of it isn't?

How much of it is about me?

How much is it about my own stuff or my own ideas of what I think I should be doing or how I should be growing, but what's really important for them and how can I get to them in the most expedient and honest way?

Oh, my gosh.

So good.

You said your care is your innovation.

Yeah.

Wow.

But think about that.

So, no, like, I am, like, it is floating right now.

Wow.

So good.

Wow.

So that's what we're tapping in right now.

You're tapping in at your innovation by showing why you care so much.

Oh, my gosh.

So here we go.

The dare is.

I dare you.

Who is your authentic customer and why do you care so much about them?

Do the thing.

Don't wait for opportunity.

Create it.

Design your breakthrough year.