You own a business, you sell things to customers and meet their needs.  You probably want to sell more things to your customers and get new customers to sell even more things.  But why?  To make more money?  To get rich?  To not have to worry about your finances anymore?  To increase your status in the community?  ALL horrible reasons.

You do not need more stuff!  You hear me on this but you probably don’t understand.  YOU.  DO. NOT. NEED. MORE. STUFF.  You probably don’t need more money than you already make.  If you have enough regular customers to pay your bills then you probably don’t NEED more customers either.  If making money is your ONLY reason for doing what you do, then you don’t NEED to make more than you live on.  Make enough to pay the bills, get out of debt, but do you really NEED more?

So, what else is there?  You started the company for a reason, and presumably that reason was to help a certain group of people with a problem.  You saw that people needed someone to work on their homes, so you offered your construction skills.  You saw that people seemed to like your artwork, so you made more and sold it to them.  But what is the ultimate point of doing what you do???  And it’s not to make money.  Money is a natural consequence of doing a good job at what you love to do.   What else is there?

Take this away and chew on it for a while:  You are in business to build high quality relationships.  Your ultimate purpose is to cultivate as many of these relationships as possible, through your business and every other facet of your life.

This is an entirely new way of thinking and if you fully embrace it, this idea will transform your customers, your business, and your life.

I recently attended a holiday event with my family, a 2+ mile drive through professionally constructed Christmas lights in Spanaway WA; nice enough for what it was, but it was the advertising that got to me.

Littered throughout the drive were large banner signs for local companies. They were sponsorships the event has sold based on the promise that thousands of people will see the signs and remember the displayed brand at some point in the future, PROBABLY resulting in a sale. It’s the modern form of snake oil…

Honestly, is anyone more likely to buy a newspaper or go to a certain medical facility based on a sign they saw next to a deer made of blinking Christmas lights? Because someone sponsored the event that your family had a decent time at, are you more likely to go enroll at the local technical school or switch to Sprint? Really think about that for a moment, and give yourself an honest answer… would that make a REAL difference to you?

I don’t blame the event, I blame the companies for falling for this. The event is basically trying to do a public service (as far as I know) and raising money for public, family events is always a challenge. They just want the companies to feel like the expense is worth it and everyone wants some recognition. But from a business standpoint, is this the best way to spend your money? I’m not talking about spending on charity or family events, my stance on that should be clear, but rather on unmeasurable advertising.

Look back on your own marketing and advertising expenditures, were they stroking your ego or were they tied to something tangible? Can you measure the results? Did they motivate someone to actually DO something and not just make them aware (or MORE aware) of you?

Short Post today, working on a longer one for tomorrow.

I found a great book on www.chrisbrogan.com called The Power of Giving that basically talks about the main themes I try to espouse here.

Giving to others will enrich you in more ways than you know and this book goes into detail about how that works.

Look at it and tell me what you think.

Tomorrow we can talk about how exactly to find your values as a company and start consciously living those out everyday!

Your local community is crying out for business to come to its aid, and it is not that difficult to answer the call.

Yesterday I highlighted TOMS Shoes as a worthwhile example of how a company can integrate donation into its business model.  Sure, it’s easy for them since they started that way, but how do we do that at a local level with an established company?  Here’s some steps you can take to successfully start donating your product or services to charities:

1. Find a charity or organization that supports your values.Many times when people hear of donating to charity or being “socially responsible” they automatically think of giving away money or volunteering somewhere.  I’m sure the Red Cross and Salvation Army want and need your donations, but is there a local charity that shares the same core values as your business and will make a more immediate local impact with your help?
2. Conduct an interview with the main representative for the nonprofit to see how passionate they are and find how well they run the business side.Not all local nonprofits are well run; some suffer from serious internal politics, a premature bureaucracy, or just poor management.  Sitting down with the principle representative of the organization and finding out directly what their goals and values are will give you a much better idea of how your company can partner effectively with the nonprofit.
3. Find a way your product can fit with the mission and goals of the nonprofit organization.This is probably most important.  How can your company directly assist the nonprofit organization?  In terms of your product or services, how can you help them from your values and strengths, not just with money?  You are in business to sell a product or your services, don’t bypass your business model and just give away money because it’s a charity.  Think of them as a customer and your payment is the renewal of the local community, which affects your bottom line and health of the business in the long term.
4. Dedicate a fixed percentage of profit each month to purchasing your product or services for the nonprofit.How much should you give?  I advise you set aside a fixed percentage every month to purchase product or your time to giving to the organization, but the actual number is based on what you need to continue operating your business.  This would be a fantastic opportunity to take a hard look at your numbers, see what you actually need to meet payroll and your other obligations, and then decide how much of the profit you are willing to invest in the community.
5. Monitor and solicit feedback.It is easy to sit back and just let things be; set a percentage, agree to that amount, feel good about yourself, and then move on to more important things.  But the point is to actively engage with the nonprofit and its mission.  How are your efforts received, is it enough, too much?  Would another product or service be a better fit for this month?  Establish some kind of feedback system, monthly reports or the like, so that you can have a continued dialogue with the nonprofit.

With a little planning and effort, you could make an forceful impact on your community and be the catalyst that brings about its renewal.

A recent post by Guy Richards reminded me that the ideas in my previous post are not novel by any stretch of the imagination.

Tom’s Shoes has been living the lifestyle of giving since it’s inception.  For those who don’t know, for every pair of shoes bought from Tom’s, they give a pair away to a needy child somewhere in the world.  It is a wonderful model and it seems to be working for them, even gaining some ad time with AT&T.

But how can a smaller local business follow in these steps?  Do we need to help children all over the world or is there something we can do here locally?  I always advocate the local approach.  They are more responsive and communication flows more easily with an organization you can visit with a ten minute car ride.

As to how can a business begin to seriously donate to charity, that’s a topic for tomorrow.

Business can serve others

I’ve got a radical idea.

That we are at our most prosperous when we invest increased wealth to directly impact and renew communities.

Imagine if we used our prosperity for the good of others.  Imagine if we live only with what we need and use the rest to give back to those who need our help the most.  Imagine what would happen if those who have more invest in those who don’t so that they can produce and achieve.

Imagine if every business adopted a healthy lifestyle of serving others, first their families and then their communities.

Serving the Community

For example, a family owned grocery or market will agree to not just donate money or volunteer time (although that would be appreciated I am sure) to the local food bank, but actually use the extra revenue brought in though increased marketing efforts to buy extra food for the food bank. A credit union or local bank would dedicate some or all of its excess to fund a full time position that coordinates with local nonprofits on financial education or the creation of a select number of high risk, second chance accounts.  See how it could work?

I have wanted to start a marketing company for some time, but I could never figure out the point of simply creating more wealth for its own sake. Where do we invest it?  Spend it on ourselves, on bigger houses or more cars,or on bigger TV’s or more computers or expensive vacations?

How about reinvesting in the business?  YES, reinvest in the business but don’t reinvest simply to expand the business so that the business can grow and become larger for the sole purpose of becoming bigger and more expansive.  Reinvest in serving those that can’t help themselves and your business will grow as a consequence.  But you will also be serving a better cause, not just the organization’s growth.

I know this sounds idealistic, but it is a lifestyle we can all live and the consequences of this behavior can have the most amazing impact the world has ever seen.  Instead of growing to consume, we will grow to give.

Who’s with me?

This is a new blog for a new world.

Now, more than anytime in history, we have the opportunity to change the world faster than ever.  Every small business owner, employee, corporate middle man, and lonely stay at home mom has access to the means to produce and produce abundantly.

Now it is time to use that wealth in the most productive way.  More on that later.