Small business owners experience the complete opposite of corporate CEOs on a daily basis. While corporations are struggling to maintain a full grasp of their inner workings, small business owners end up wearing every hat necessary to keep their businesses afloat. That means being your own accountant, secretary, janitor, and social media manager. It means learning how to do a variety of things you probably never wanted to do. It means allowing your business to bleed into your personal life. It’s not just “going to work,” it’s part of who you are.
You have it easier than you think. There are corporations all over the world that lack significant values, but when you own a small business you can’t afford to put your product out there with no passion behind it. Even if you wanted to, it’d be almost impossible because of how much your identity is a part of your brand’s identity. When you are passionate about what you create and you have a deeper reason for doing what you do, we’re drawn to that. We don’t just want a product for a product’s sake; we want to reap the benefit of someone like us who saw a need and went about making something to fix it. We want to be amazed that a product so specific to our needs exists, so much so that we don’t care about the price. That’s a powerful feeling, but it’s really what we are all looking for when we’re making a significant purchase.
That passion and drive for doing what you love is what makes the identity of your business a real brand, but maintaining that tangled relationship between you and your business is not going to be healthy for either side.
A smart business owner knows that he or she has to delegate. When you do it all yourself, you risk not only getting burnt out, but not giving those tasks the attention and skill they need. It takes courage to admit you can’t do everything, but that is the first step toward planning for the business in your future. You also risk dangerously high stress levels and a suffering personal life when you put that kind of expectation on yourself, and no business is going to succeed with a stressed-out owner.
So you can delegate and specialize each of the tasks that your business depends on. That will allow your business to run without you, right? Well, not quite. You’ve got the basic functions down, but remember, you’re still a small business. You need to continue the strong values and passion that your business was founded on, but how can you do that when you have other people working for you? You can’t expect them to know what you’ve gone through to create this business, so how can they have that passion and contextual knowledge of the solution you provide?
Take a tip from the biggest brand-focused companies in the world. All of these companies make it a point—that is, spend millions of dollars—to make sure they properly spread the values of their brand. It’s no small task to them, but it’s worth every dollar spent to turn their employees into brand ambassadors. They hire corporate liaisons, create internal marketing campaigns, and hold conferences just to ingrain their entire organization with the same values and knowledge that has allowed their company to grow.
Now, you don’t have to go to those extremes, and you don’t need to. Your employees aren’t all over the world, they’re right here, so start small. Chances are you’ve already begun to spread your values without even thinking about it, but now is your opportunity to consciously think about them. Why did you start your business? What problem do you solve? What is the real reason people go to you before anyone else? These are just a few questions you can ask yourself to begin to identify the values of your business.
After you know what your values are, spread them. Make them something your employees won’t forget. If you work in the same building, write those values down and tape them to a wall. Send out emails about your values and how they correlate with the needs of your customer. Not only will you create a better atmosphere, but you’ll grow better employees, employees that understand the passion behind your brand and can give their responsibilities the same level of finesse that you would with those values in mind. You’ll also set up your business to allow for more growth, and those values will follow you into the next phase of your business.