Build a Business That Counts
For a long time now, I have been a bit unsettled about business in this crazy era of the internet and the "global" economy.
It seems that everyday there is a new plan, program, or other such thing to "make you millions" in just your spare time.
If I hear another person say "If I can make money, you can too...
" I'm going to engage in several hours of primal scream therapy.
As an entrepreneurial dreamer and creative thinker, I do believe that anyone with enough inspiration and willingness to work hard can create and succeed in business.
The issue for me comes from what people are being told about (or not told about) building a business that counts.
You see, when I first started this journey for myself, I looked at videos, listened to gurus, and joined the social network.
However, the more I did (and learned) the more unsettled I became.
The reason for my unsettled condition was that through all of what I was seeing, hearing, and experiencing there was a tremendous loss of the human element.
People all over the world were "connecting" and yet very few were discovering the real people behind these new connections.
My business account on Twitter is filled with the 22 tweets/day/person that someone said was exactly the correct number that a good business should post every day ("Not too many but not too few either," Guru Goldilocks said, "22 is just right!") So, every day I slog through the "Five key reasons for this...
" and the "10 ways to avoid that...
" or even "The three best ways to use this new social network to make new sales.
" Everyone talking at each other, but very few talking to each other.
For me business is about looking people in the eye and knowing that they trust what I say and I trust them in the same way.
It's about being confident that the people you work with really care about you and you really care about them.
It's about relationships that will cause you to give a friend your last dollar to bail them out of a jam.
In the end, it's about building a business that counts for you, for your customers/clients, and for your community.
So, how do you get to this place in your business? How do you reach a place where, while profits are a part of every business, they are only one measure rather than the only one? I think that there are four things that must be considered in building a business that counts: 1.
Defining success through your eyes.
If you do not have a clear understanding of what success really means to you, you will have to use someone else's definition and that can be dangerous.
Dangerous because what someone else considers to be success might well be drudgery to you.
Define success in your own terms and you will work harder to attain it! 2.
Along with defining success, you have got to decide what makes you happy.
Only when you know this, can you build you business around what makes you happy.
This kind of business will never get boring nor will you ever abandon it for something less.
3.
Once you have your inward ideals straight, look outward and identify who you want to have as a client/customer.
If you accept just anyone into your client base, you will have to deal with personalities and problems that will make your life of happiness and personal success tarnished and never what you planned it to be.
There are more than enough customers in your path to provide you with whatever level of success that you choose.
Just be careful who you choose to work with! 4.
Decide early how you are going to use your companies success to effect your community.
During the great age of philanthropy that existed around the turn of the 20th century, one great industrialist said that a business owner should spend the first half of their lives making money and the second half giving it away.
While most of us are not in a position to follow his advice, it certainly is a grand goal.
How you choose to use your success in your society is a critical element in building a business that counts.
Whether your dream is to build a business that stretches around the world or simply around the corner, it needs to be one that counts.
But, that kind of business takes time and a great deal of thought to pull off.
The challenge for every entrepreneur, start-up, and established business is to become a business that counts!
It seems that everyday there is a new plan, program, or other such thing to "make you millions" in just your spare time.
If I hear another person say "If I can make money, you can too...
" I'm going to engage in several hours of primal scream therapy.
As an entrepreneurial dreamer and creative thinker, I do believe that anyone with enough inspiration and willingness to work hard can create and succeed in business.
The issue for me comes from what people are being told about (or not told about) building a business that counts.
You see, when I first started this journey for myself, I looked at videos, listened to gurus, and joined the social network.
However, the more I did (and learned) the more unsettled I became.
The reason for my unsettled condition was that through all of what I was seeing, hearing, and experiencing there was a tremendous loss of the human element.
People all over the world were "connecting" and yet very few were discovering the real people behind these new connections.
My business account on Twitter is filled with the 22 tweets/day/person that someone said was exactly the correct number that a good business should post every day ("Not too many but not too few either," Guru Goldilocks said, "22 is just right!") So, every day I slog through the "Five key reasons for this...
" and the "10 ways to avoid that...
" or even "The three best ways to use this new social network to make new sales.
" Everyone talking at each other, but very few talking to each other.
For me business is about looking people in the eye and knowing that they trust what I say and I trust them in the same way.
It's about being confident that the people you work with really care about you and you really care about them.
It's about relationships that will cause you to give a friend your last dollar to bail them out of a jam.
In the end, it's about building a business that counts for you, for your customers/clients, and for your community.
So, how do you get to this place in your business? How do you reach a place where, while profits are a part of every business, they are only one measure rather than the only one? I think that there are four things that must be considered in building a business that counts: 1.
Defining success through your eyes.
If you do not have a clear understanding of what success really means to you, you will have to use someone else's definition and that can be dangerous.
Dangerous because what someone else considers to be success might well be drudgery to you.
Define success in your own terms and you will work harder to attain it! 2.
Along with defining success, you have got to decide what makes you happy.
Only when you know this, can you build you business around what makes you happy.
This kind of business will never get boring nor will you ever abandon it for something less.
3.
Once you have your inward ideals straight, look outward and identify who you want to have as a client/customer.
If you accept just anyone into your client base, you will have to deal with personalities and problems that will make your life of happiness and personal success tarnished and never what you planned it to be.
There are more than enough customers in your path to provide you with whatever level of success that you choose.
Just be careful who you choose to work with! 4.
Decide early how you are going to use your companies success to effect your community.
During the great age of philanthropy that existed around the turn of the 20th century, one great industrialist said that a business owner should spend the first half of their lives making money and the second half giving it away.
While most of us are not in a position to follow his advice, it certainly is a grand goal.
How you choose to use your success in your society is a critical element in building a business that counts.
Whether your dream is to build a business that stretches around the world or simply around the corner, it needs to be one that counts.
But, that kind of business takes time and a great deal of thought to pull off.
The challenge for every entrepreneur, start-up, and established business is to become a business that counts!