E10: My Thoughts on Doing Business the 'Right' Way

In this episode I talk about what I think the 'right' way to do business is; we explore how you show up and more importantly the impact of not showing up the 'right' way.

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Transcript

Hello & welcome to Dream Business Dream Life, helping ambitious people, like you, to grow a business they love.

I’m Emma Hine and I’m on a mission to show you that it is possible to grow a business without sacrificing your life 

Having experienced the rollercoaster of making millions of pounds, but feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and totally unsuccessful, I know first-hand the importance of growing a business on your terms. 

On this podcast I'm going to share with you lots of tips and advice that will enable you to grow a business that gives you the financial freedom to live the life of your dreams while sharing with you some inspirational growth stories from other fabulous business owners.

Ready to live the dream? Then let’s get stuck in…

Hello & Welcome to today’s episode of Dream Business Dream Life.

Today I want to explore what doing business the right way really means and why it is important to do it.

Now you know I am all about doing things your own way and not looking for a cookie cutter way to do things, but I think there is some discussion we need to have around the difference between doing things your way and not doing what is right.

 This is more of a let’s reflect on how we do business and let’s get really honest with ourselves about some of the behaviours we demonstrate rather than a dig at some of things we see.

The way we behave will affect the way in which our business grows and it will determine the people we attract into our world too.

So let’s really explore what the right way to behave is if we want to be seen as the person to work with, because being the expert at what you do is not enough. 

 Having a clear and documented strategy is not enough. 

Being a great salesperson is not enough.

Having a great team behind you is not enough.

You have to behave in the right way too.

Let’s start by talking about your values.

Your values are the things that underpin and drive your business.

They are the things that your business stands for. The things that drive your business decisions; that determine the culture within your business. 

Your clients should be able to feel your values oozing out of you.

One of my values is fun and I think anyone that has worked with me will know that I embody fun into everything I do; yes, we get stuff done but we do it in a way that makes the experience fun and enjoyable as I believe that business can and should be fun.

I’m always laughing and giggling; I’m always looking for ways to gamify business…my branding is fun, my approach to everything is will I enjoy this and will my clients enjoy it too.

Your values have to be things you truly believe in and embody within everything you do. 

Your values have to be embedded in your team as much as they are in you.

 There is no point popping a list of words on your website; proudly announcing these words are your values if your behaviour is not going to match them.

 There is no point looking up the trendy words, and calling them your values if your behaviour and beliefs are something completely different.

 You cannot just copy someone elses’s values if they are not who you truly are as a business,

Your behaviour has to match your values and that is why your values have to be true to you. 

Because the minute you start to walk a different way to the way you talk people will see it. It will come across as unauthentic and nobody wants to work with someone who does not walk the walk.

 When you look at the successful businesses out there like apple IKEA and Disney, their values are very clearly integrated within their business; their values are very clearly determining how they behave as a business. 

You need to do the same; we all need to do the same; we all need to make sure that what we say our values are match our behaviour.

 Your behaviour will determine the people that you attract into your world.

 Your behaviour will determine the people that want to work with you.

 People that come to my events are always telling me that I bring the nicest people together and it took me a while to realise that the reason I attract such wonderful people into my world is because I am a nice person…I am a kind person and I care about people.

 Kindness is another one of my core values.

 it's not something that I have to work hard to do, it's something that is in-grained within me something that I strongly believe in, so my behaviour will always match my value.

 But it's way more than just your values that determine how you should behave as a business or indeed as a person. 

There are some things that are just givens, things that any business should be doing regardless of their values, regardless of who they are working with and regardless of what others are doing.

 Your clients should always be your priority; without them you have nothing.

 So, you should have customer centric processes, customer care should be right at the top of your agenda when it comes to feedback, dealing with issues and making the sale.

 That means you should not be using manipulative sales tactics; you should not be focussing on getting the sale at any cost…I mean who thinks it is ok to encourage people to get into debt to buy your program.

You should not be walking into events and expecting to make a sale right there in the room…going straight into sales mode the minute you meet someone is not the right way to do business…you should be getting to know people and building the relationships. 

 I get that it is important to get the money in but if your behaviour starts to show signs of desperation people will lose trust in you and people will not buy from you.

 People value authenticity so being the real you is so important.

 But, and that's a big but, Being the real you is not your permission card to inappropriately behave.

 Sometimes as business owners, or as people, the best response is no response.

 This online world is a space where it is very easy to get yourself pulled into debates discussions arguments slagging off sessions call them what you like but in my opinion, this is exactly the time for you to utilise your right to remain silent.

 As I sit and scroll social media, I see things that I don't agree with, I see things that I think are wrong, I see things that are clearly being said as knee jerk reactions to something that has upset, annoyed or hurt the person who has posted it.

I’m not disputing the feelings; I am just questioning the behaviour.

 Was it appropriate to post and was it appropriate for everyone to comment? 

As much as I believe in freedom of speech, I also have to ask myself if some of this stuff is appropriate

 I know for a fact that I've seen things that people have posted on social media things that people have commented on social media and it has made me think that they are people that I would not choose to do business with because suddenly I see a side of them that I do not like; a side that makes me feel uncomfortable.

 So, I guess what I'm saying here is yes, always be the real you but sometimes the right thing for the real you is not to share your opinion.

 How you behave in that moment needs to be aligned with your values because it will be noticed if it doesn’t.

 Can you imagine Disney responding publicly to something unprofessionally online? Then my question is why you should you?

 Being you does not mean you don’t have to be professional as your clients will be watching your every move. 

And this one may sound pretty harsh but if you are not attracting the right people into your world then my challenge is to go and look at how you are behaving as your behaviour will determine who you attract.

 So to flip this all the way back to where we started.

 I think it is clear to say that our behaviour as a business owner is critical and it is important that we are considerate with how we behave.

 Your clients including future clients are watching and listening to everything you do and say so be authentic, be kind and behave in the way you want to be treated.

 Your business is reliant on you behaving appropriately, authentically and consistently in line with your values.

 So go and get clarity on what that looks like and more importantly go and behave that way.

 Thank you for listening; see you next time…

You have been listening to Dream Business Dream Life with Emma Hine. If you want to know more about how I can help you to build your dream business and your dream life, then visit my website emmehine.co.uk. Until next time remember you really can have it all!