My favorite thought leaders all sprout about it.They are all over this concept of understanding yourself and then building from that point a solid foundations of a personal and then company brand. Some call this self awareness, self actualisation, understanding your mindset, inner core, your value system or inner believes.
Tom Peters, Dr Stephen Covey, Michael Port, Jeanne Bliss, Chris Brogan, Gary Vanderchuk, Seth or John DiJulius. What do all of them have in common? I believe that they have grasped the fundamental starting point for a small business to be successful.The key is simple; know yourself and the values you bring on board as the owner. It is your very values that determine how your business culture, how you interact with staff and customers and influences the decisions you make. It seems like a small thing, but believe me, self awareness is underrated as a powerful differentiators when building a successful company.
Building this culture, this underlying feeling, buzz, atmosphere, that is so hard to replicate, is integral to building your brand and attracting your ideal customers. Building your small business should start with you. It has too. Understanding you and your values and then building your business from that core base. It is these attributes that inevitably shape your brand.
A word of caution. When I have worked with small business owners haven’t fully understood or resolved from their core values, their businesses always have problems. The cracks start to show very early with staff and then customer relationships. Not only is it difficult to run a great business when your values aren’t clear and communicated but it is more difficult it is to market and position a business where the personality is not crystal clear and this is determined by behavior and values. You need to be authentic. I think the larger questions for you is, how well do we really know yourself. Personal development is one of the best business investments a small business owner can make.Understanding yourself, your staff and your customers.
How can we learn from some of the thought leaders who understand the concept of being authentic and true to their inner calling and values. Take a walk with me through some of the influencers in my life since running my business.
Of course all the above mentioned thought leaders are a brand in their own right but they didn’t start out that way. Take for example Gary Vanderchuk. Personally I love Gary, but not everyone does. I love his authenticity. What you see is what you get. I value of authenticity resonates with me. He reminds me of my sister Nat who is so open and black and white about things. This trait of Gary’s for being frank, coupled with his enthusiasm and energy (not to mention a lot of elbow grease) has catapulted his brand and his Wine TV show to legendary status. He has been true to his inner voice, warts and all and attracted raving fans because it it. Now he is not for everyone, but it is clear that he stands for something.
I highly recommend his book Crush it to get you all pumped and make you not sleep because you think you have been too slack, but a great read.
What do you think your staff say about you? Your customers?
Jeanne Bliss has a great website called Customer Bliss. Great videos on this website. It is clear to me that Jeanne has innate empathy for people. She just gets it. She understands the value of being customer centric. She talks about “your story”. What is being said about you because of the decisions you make and the actions you take. Bringing this level of self awareness to business is a much needed area of business development. This “software” that Tom Peter talks of, is often overlooked. Yet as a small business owner “your story” is even more important because the relationships we form with our customers are often more intimate than in larger businesses. Did I mention that the About Us page is the top searched page on most websites. People buy off people they like, know and trust. What does your website say about you, your story?
Dr Stephen Covey has always approached his area of expertise from a pragmatic approach and uses human psychology and compelling story telling to package his teachings. The reason he is so successful is he has followed his inner voice to do what he does best and that is to teach. Even today he is using more an more mediums to communicate his learning to others. His 7 Now 8,habits are principles to live by and are ingrained in his value set. Intrinsically, we know that they make sense and appeal to our better nature as they are simple concepts. However, it is Dr Covey story telling that brings these concepts to live. The “green and clean” story will stay with me for life a story about how he taught his son to look after the lawn and take responsibility for something at a young age.
Dr Stephen Covey
I have only recently discovered Michael Port and recently read his book on audible How to book yourself solid. Michael is clearly a very nice person. He cares. Full stop. He has invested so much of himself to build his consulting business and the reason he is so successful and will continue to be is that he is invested. His latest venture called
Think Big Revolution – it is all about thinking bigger about who you are and what you offer the world. It is a really great premise because it is a mindset of abundance which I love and a Pay it Forward mentality which is equally appealing to me. Michael is a successful businessman and entrepreneur no doubt but I bet he measures part of his success in the way he is able to serve others which is why this is part of his story.
Michael Port
It is why he does a 1 hour collaborative coaching session for small businesses very week. You have got to love that and what he stands for. What do you do for your customers that shows them that you care?
Chris Brogan is known as a great blogger. I really love the way he shows so much of himself in this blogs and even better his u-tubes. Love his book reviews. Chris has positioning himself as a social media expert but has a totally human practical approach to his view point. Kind of like John Jantsch from Duck Tape Marketing. Great practical advice. 
He has started a business called Human Systems Works. Wow Chris. Go get them. What I love about this is community focused. There is no real material gain, it is just a nice, and dare I say the right thing to do.
So what does MacInnis Marketing stand for? Well if you look on Our story page you will see the values that resonate for me
- Authentic – being honest, being ourselves and doing our best to deliver you with the best marketing solution for your business.
- Passion for customers – being thoughtful by putting your needs first. By being personally invested by ensuring we deliver great value for your marketing dollar investment.
- Innovation and IT - keeping abreast of current marketing IT solutions and identifying the most affordable and suitable marketing technology for your small business.
- Sharing Knowledge – educating and communicating marketing information with you to improve your marketing knowledge and skill base.
- Creativity and fun – brainstorming, thinking outside the square, enjoying the process and constantly collecting great ideas for marketing in small business.
- Try to use the pay it forward principals -It begins with doing a favor for another person– without any expectation of being paid back.
I guess anyone can put values up on their website or have a mission statement but it is how they embody those values day to day that really matters. These values guide the work we do and the work we choose not to do. I make decisions in my business every day guided my these. A perfect example is my latest project Brain Jam where I am helping young marketers get some real practical marketing experience by coaching mentoring and giving them some hands on experience. For me this ticks all the boxes.
TAKE AWAY - The key take away for you is to look at the values that you live your life by and ask yourself are you using these in your business? Are you being true to your inner core beliefs? If so, how can you action these even more fully so they make a real different to your staff and customers everyday? Love to hear your story!
