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“…the new generation of mission-based businesses builds on some very old ideas, ones that predate the Industrial Age.
They seek, as an essential part of their purpose, to contribute to the health and well-being of living systems. They reject the notion that the sole purpose of business is to make a profit and they regard the quality of relationships between members, suppliers, and customers as the true indicator of success. In so doing, they are returning business to its origins.
The oldest Swedish word for business is narings liv, “nourishment for life.” In ancient Chinese the concept is expressed by two symbols that translate as “life meaning.” And the root of the English word company derives from the Latin com panis, “the sharing of bread”-the same root as that for the word companion.”
An excerpt from The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World by Peter Senge, Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz, Joe Laur, Sara Schley
When I look around at what is going on in the world, I can’t help but wonder how we’ve all lost contact. Contact with our clients. Contact with our colleagues. Contact with what our decisions actually mean in the world outside our business “walls.”
Let alone contact with our families. Our friends. Ourselves.
It down-right saddens me to think of how many “businesses” are more committed to their bottom line than to their clients and to the world at large. We are here to serve. Our work in this world is to connect and to help those that need us and our services.
And, not only to connect with each other, but also to something deep inside of us that means more than simple profits.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am committed to making money as that is the form I get to trade for the things I want, but I am only committed to making it when it is of service and moves us all forward.
Basically, I want to feel good taking your money. And I want you to feel good about it too. And I want everyone to benefit, including future generations.
What replaces that furrowed brow of mine with a smiley face is meeting all of the energized, passionate entrepreneurs and visionaries who are effin’ balls-to-the-wall ready to create a new way of doing business. Across industries. Across competition.
They have a message rooted in connection and service, that WILL change the world through changing lives.
So, how do you create your own message? Do you even know what it is? What would it mean if everyone in the world truly stepped into the vision you have for the future…and how can you bring that into your work?
This isn’t just pie in the sky, I’m talking about. As soon as I stepped into my own message, my business’ bottom line ate that pie in the sky. (That’s a good thing!) It was as if, by speaking my truth ever clearer, ever louder, more of the exact right people came running to me.
So, tell me your vision, your truth, your message…and then go tell everyone else.
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When I was a younger man lookin’ for my pot of gold
Everywhere I turned the doors were closin’
It took every ounce of faith I had to keep on keepin’ on
And still I felt like I was only losin’
I refused then like I do now to let anybody tie me down
And I lost a few good friends along the way
I was raised up poor and I wanted more
And maybe I’m a little too proud
In lookin’ back I see a kid who was just
Afraid, hungry and old before his time
Through the years I’ve known my share of broken hearted fools
And those who couldn’t choose a path worth taking
There’s nothin’ in the world so sad as talking to a man
Who never knew his life was his for making
Ain’t it about time you realize? It’s not worth keepin’ score
You win some, you lose some and you let it go
What’s the use of stacking on every failure another stone
Till you find you’ve spent your whole damn life
Building walls, lonely and old before your time
It took so long to see
That truth was all around me
Now the wren has gone to roost and the sky is turnin’ gold
And like the sky my soul is also turnin’
Turnin’ from the past, at last and all I’ve left behind
Could it be that I am finally learnin’?
Learnin’ I’m deserving of love and the peaceful heart
I won’t tear myself apart no more for tryin’
I’m tired of lyin’ to myself, tryin’ to buy what can’t be bought
It’s not livin’ that you’re doin’ if it feels like dyin
Cryin, growin’ old before your time
Cryin, growin’ old before your time
Excerpts from “Old before your time” by Ray LaMontagne
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How does creating a brand actually change your business? How does being yourself actually create a brand?
Basically, Judy had it right. When you are being yourself, the people you work best with, the friends who “get” you the most, the love of your friggin life comes along. This is the person and the persona that you need to be putting into the world…and it is the brand behind your business.
Having that brand makes it so the people that are truly meant to work with you recognize you right away…just from looking at your website. Hearing you talk. Reading your thoughts. They recognize they are the Who that you are talking to.
Many entrepreneurs & visionaries get nervous about presenting the “real” version of themselves. What if it is too narrow? What if nobody likes me? What if I bomb?
Well, if the face and personality of your business is not the “real you,” then who is it? Either it is a really generic version of plain or it is trying to be somebody you are not. Either way, you are attracting clients that you are not truly meant to work with and let’s face it, ones you don’t like working with either.
That is if you are attracting clients at all…many times, people can sniff out fake without being able to put a finger on what feels wrong about you.
The benefit to having your brand down pat, in control, and totally authentic comes in the form of awesome clients excited to work with you. These are clients that leave you feeling better at the end of a session than you felt before it.
Not to mention, it also means more business. Like I said, when you are generic, you don’t actually resonate with anyone. It is much more difficult to get any clients if they simply are not interested in you.
Last weekend, I spent two days trying to get some video recorded for my website and for my new product launch (SetUpASimpleSite.com), which ended up as a total disaster. The first day, I had tons of make up on, had professional lights, an HD camera, and was so damned serious about it all…My husband burst into laughter upon seeing that set of videos because it was SO not me (which did not go over well since I had spent the day agonizing over the damned camera!) Even the second day, I was much more loose, more myself, but it just wasn’t real. Finally, I was playing around with my new computer’s web cam and got the best clips…me speaking gibberish about how messy my office was. Who knew that it would take such work to be yourself?!
But it does. And it isn’t work in the traditional sense. It is work in the way that getting rid of ego can be. It is a challenge in the way that committing to your business 100% is.
Your brand is your business. Your heart is your brand. Therefore, your heart is your business. And it needs to show.
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