What is your purpose?

My journey to articulate our Big Purpose (which may help you define yours too!)

Have you ever had moments in your life where you seem to gain clarity, you feel you had a breakthrough in thinking, and your excitement rises so high as you have an insight, a vision that you want to share! And then when you present it to colleagues, friends, family (or in my case worse, investors) - crickets… they have no idea or interest in what you are talking about.

If this has ever happened to you, then this blog is for you. 

I left my corporate life, driven by a vision. And that vision was for a better world by using sports as a way to unite people, rather than focusing on what divides us. 

In short, SportsHosts connects fans globally, to share experiences online and at live sports events

But in a time where seeing live sports isn't in the immediate future, the question around our "Big Purpose" is one we need to answer for users of the app, for fans and content creators coming on board, for investors, for everyone. 

Where it gets tricky is balancing your inner purpose, in a way, others will not only get quickly but want to be part of while staying true to that vision. That is certainly hard enough, but when you also add in new ways of thinking, well let's just say it can be one hell of a ride.

In my last blog, I introduced the theme of two fundamental choices in life, love, or fear. And to be honest, I felt a bit weird talking in these terms as I thought people may be turned off. 

But as fear and love are not just themes, but drivers of my vision, I am going all in, as they say in poker. 

My foe in life is fear. Fear stunts us personally and universally and manifests universally as discrimination, racism, and exclusion.

I was born in a relatively low-income family in one of the poorer suburbs of Melbourne; I had no complaints because, on a global scale, it was a privileged upbringing. 

But what it gave me was a glimpse at the unwritten social boundaries placed on us. At university, the loaded question "what school did you go to?" was the first of these signifiers, and your answer immediately dictated where you sat in the pecking order.

In some ways, it ripped at my core, and at the same time, I didn't want to care at all. 

And let's not overplay my experience; it was hardly devastating. But it led me to think: if the question of what school I went to affected me, how the hell do people deal with far more dangerous forms of social exclusion: racism, gender discrimination, and the violence that manifests from these attitudes?

This is exacerbated by politicians around the world who continue to divide us along the lines of nationality, race, religion because it's an easy answer and one that stirs fiery emotions and wins votes. 

So, where does that leave us, other than feeling hopeless?

These are significant issues, too big to solve with a brushstroke or blog post, but any transformation is best started from within ourselves, with love growing outwards. 

If I'm losing you with that sort of language, then let me bring you back in with some interesting research that shows that having fun together is a real and meaningful solution.

Research undertaken by Monash University and Inclusive Australia has shown people interacting in a positive environment is the most powerful way to change people's perceptions and prejudices.

And sports has the power to unite in ways little else does. Research undertaken by Monash University and Inclusive Australia has shown people interacting in a positive environment is the most powerful way to change people's perceptions and prejudices. This is where sports has the power to unite in ways little else does. And it leads me back to that new way of doing business I mentioned earlier.

Loneliness and depression are the global epidemic of our time, (ignoring COVID for a second), with 30-50% of Millennials and Generation Z reporting loneliness. 

And approaching business in new and innovative ways that allow people to have meaningful shared experiences that enrich their lives, instead of just transactions, can be part of the solution. 

We know people now value experiences over possessions, and I believe we are now seeing the emergence of the passion economy where people seek enriched shared experiences around what they love. 

In the case of SportsHosts, connecting to other fans at home or away opens up the possibility for almost unlimited social connections with other fans from next door to across the globe. 

Our role is to not just enable that community, but take over where other social networks have previously failed, by using the collective power of the SporsHosts community to engage teams and sponsors to deliver incredible experiences for fans, instead of corporates. 

This is not just "social unionism," it also makes complete business sense for the leagues and teams, as it means less advertising, more diverse organic growth, and happier fans. In short, it is good business in a hyper-competitive environment where fan numbers are barely growing or declining in many cases, while marketing costs are escalating. 

Saying all this and doing it are two different things. Before COVID, we were based in the USA, matching people to see sports in San Francisco and New York. But we needed to find a way to grow our community, and we faced these challenges: 

1) we needed technology that allows community interaction and the community to grow 

2) we needed to tell our story to inspire community growth, and 

3) a clear narrative for investors to understand what we are doing. 

In this quest, we found Mighty Networks - a social network App provider - which is changing our business. The Mighty Networks team are world-leading community growth experts, led by Gina Bianchini, the CEO. Gina's number one point is that we need a "Big Purpose statement," not because they are nice to have, but because it is the motivation for your community. 

Meeting Gina is like meeting Yoda, and working with the Mighty Network team is like going to Jedi Academy.

I now have the social genius (on top of technology solution) to bring together our vision cohesively so others will understand and want to join our community. 

But the challenge of writing the Big Purpose was still killing me. At Mighty Networks, they structure your Big Purpose in the following way: 

We bring together (who you bring together) to (what we will master together) so that we can (the benefits that come from being a part of the community). 

I was excited, but as I wrote it out, it was long-winded, like this post, and it was clumsy. I was trying to incorporate shared experiences, a new business model, and unity. It was easy when I dropped one theme, and it sounded great, but when I read this simplified version, I felt it was like sending a boxer out to fight with one arm tied behind their back, as it lacked the full combination of punches. 

So I went ahead, posted the long-winded clumsy version out to the Mighty Network community group, held my breath, and got back the comments. Love the vision, but not sure what you actually do or love what you do, not sure about the vision. That made it easy, haha. 

Fear, my old foe also struck during this process. My voice told me, "you idiot you should have nailed this years ago, how dumb are you??".

And that thinking stopped me dead in my tracks. It took a focus on being present, forgetting the past or worrying about the future, and coming at it with love. Because this is what I love, and it is a privilege to live life with the opportunity to do this. And with so many great people helping me, it was an awe-inspiring collaboration!

In the end, letting go and just doing it with love, listening to Gavin, a creative genius from Intrepid Fox in Capetown South Africa, and Yoda Gina got me here! 

So here it is; 

We bring together passionate sports fans from around the world to share incredible experiences with each other and to use our collective power to leverage teams and sponsors to deliver money cannot buy experiences for fans, so that we can enjoy an entirely new level of belonging in a world united by sports.

And I know that we are not at the destination, the journey will continue, and our community will shape it from here, like Mike, my co-founder reminds me, it is not ours to own. 

This was a journey of believing in myself, vulnerability, and finding the strength to share a vision even though it may be crushed, but without a shared vision, ideas have no life, so in a way, this is day one for SportsHosts. Good luck, SportsHosts!

So if you are struggling with yours, personally or as a business, know that it is worthwhile, and look at it as a privilege, a time of creativity, of putting your stake in the ground, without fear, love it, and then let it go. 

See you later, big purpose.