Originally published in The Glass House Magazine

8 March 2019

reprinted with permission from Ali Meehan

Do you know why you do what you do?

I meant really know why you do what you do?

What is your ‘why’?

We all operate on three altitudes: what we do,

how we do it, and why we do it.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, the thought occurs to me that maybe your why has become lost in the day to day grind of life and you have forgotten why you launched your business, what ‘need’ it was meant to fill, or how you wanted to use your superpower and change the world. And before you tell me you don’t have a superpower – you do … more of that later.

Maybe that first flush of business passion has disappeared, you feel slightly scared and you have your hand up swimming in a pea soup sea of family, BREXIT concerns, lack of confidence, others can do ‘this’ better than me and the latest new bright shiny thing.

I believe we need to take back control and today of all days, where Women are far further forward than we have ever been, where we have more say, more opportunities and more advantages than ever before.

I am Ali Meehan, founder of Costa Women, which is ‘probably’ the largest community for Women in Spain. My why (read superpower number 1) is and has always been to support Women. Everything runs through that premise – if it’s not supporting Women in Spain, or Women heading this way, why am I doing it?

“Successful networking comes from a place of abundance rather than scarcity, a place of stretching your hand first rather than looking for hands to stretch to you.”

What is your why? If you know, it makes life so much easier. It’s a filter you can use to run anything you do through and I mean anything and everything. Once you know (or remember) why you are doing this (what are your values if you are just in it for the money?) you will be able to clearly communicate and express your ‘why’. What makes you feel most authentic and at your natural best? People buy from people they know, like and trust. If you don’t know, like and trust yourself, can your Clients, or Customers?

Every word you say is an affirmation.

How do I use my why?

By connecting, inspiring, enabling and thereby supporting women in their journeys to and from Spain. No mean achievement you might think and yes there have been times when I may have created something far bigger than I ever set out to create and more complicated than I originally envisaged.

However, I know my “why” means I want women to accomplish something more than just earn money – I want them to have fun, find business buddies, learn and enjoy the ride.

“Successful networking comes from a place of abundance rather than scarcity, a place of stretching your hand first rather than looking for hands to stretch to you.”

What I do is connect Women, inspire their passions and love of Spain, enable them via a free platform (yes you did read that right) and support them in their day-to-day lives.

How do you use your why?
Is that how you set out to use your why in the first place, or has it drifted into this?
Are you just doing “this” only for the money?
Why did you start creating “this” in the first place?
What makes people want to use you and your business?
How is it different from anyone else offering the same product or service?
How does your superpower show up?
And this is where some Women struggle with networking and telling us about their superpower, because they are scared they will meet someone doing something the same, or similar, and what makes them different?

“A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms.” ― Zen Shin

And on that note – what is your second superpower after your why?

It’s YOUniqueness.

We don’t need to step on each other. We are all unique beautiful beings who can communicate our own Youniqueness. We each have a different story, a different way of communicating, a different way of using social media, a different ORIGIN that makes us ORIGINAL!

Stand up and be counted with your YOUniqueness.

Happy International Women’s Day YOUinque Woman!

Ali Meehan

ABOUT ALI MEEHAN
Ali Meehan is a Social Entrepreneur and Founder of award-winning Costa Women, the largest social networking community for Women living in, or planning on moving to Spain. Ali was also highlighted as a top Twitter account for expat advice by The Telegraph and has a social media reach of 30,000+. Ali is a founding member of Typical Non-Spanish, a group which celebrates all that is good about life in Spain.

Spain is where Ali has now settled after traveling the globe over the last 20 years and working in Australia, the Middle East, and Asia.

Join Ali and other Women in Spain at costawomen.com