The entrepreneur is perhaps one of the most privileged classes of society that exists. But it is our job to remember that one thing is more important than any other: The old adage of “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day of your life” is the most acceptable form of class suppression that modern society has come up with throughout our history. DWYL ( Do what you love) is something that we tell our workers as a way of making them responsible for their choices. As a consequence, it also removes our responsibility to take care of them as humans who lift us up to higher realms of possibility.
DWYL is simply a stupid thing to expect from those who are taking care of our privileged lives. No one loves changing diapers; no one loves working in a sweatshop; judging by the turnover, no one loves working in a call centre. What they love is having a life that they can live because they get paid. It is our job to make sure they are paid a living wage! One of the excellent memes that is doing the rounds right now is Walmart Vs Costco like the following image
The least we can do as business owners and entrepreneurs is make sure that we are creating a better world. That is done by taking into consideration the things that we ask those below us to do! I would never want to work in a factory in China. But what we ask those that do, is to make the horrible choice between health and disaster. I don’t think that those workers have passion and love of their labour in mind, more likely they are concerned with not dying of hunger.
And you know what? There is great honour in doing what is necessary to make sure that the roof over your head is stable and the food on your table is healthy. So, when you start talking about DWYL, keep in mind that you are perpetuating a classist argument, designed to rob people who don’t love their job, of their dignity and the respect that they deserve for doing the shitty jobs that we need to get done as a society.
Learn More
If you do business with people you need to understand the above image of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs! (we’ll look at attachment theory in the next article!) But you need to understand what your client needs to get done. What level of need do they need to fulfill. It will heavily taint your approach…or at least it should!
When we consider for example why most men buy a lawn mower, it’s not because they spend all night wondering whether the grass blades are too long. It’s because they have multiple pressures coming at them from all kinds of angles.
None of those reasons actually have anything to do with the action of cutting the grass: it is all about the results of cut grass. So You don’t buy the lawn mower for its capacity to cut grass but you do so to fulfill different levels of needs above.
Now needs are always the same. But how you fulfill those needs are cultural. So if you want clients from different cultural backgrounds you have to understand why they have the needs. While these differences may look superficial, they are often deeply ingrained.
Take the simple act of buying something at the store. Here we are used to prices being fixed and being non-negotiable. We establish a price based on cost and margin. While other cultures value the nature of the relationship with whom they are doing business first and not the relationship with the company. Some cultures are more willing to make concessions to support the long-term nature of the relations. North American approaches may well be more of a “take-it-or-leave-it-attitude.” More about the transaction than the overall.
So we see how different needs are being fulfilled by the simple act of negotiating. Take this with you when you begin talking with clients and ask yourself what it is that they need and you will have a greater respect for your clients and they will feel understood.
Learn More
There are only seven ways to make money. An immense number of things can be transacted in these seven ways but there are only seven ways to sell things.
Sale of an object, User fees, Memberships, Rental, Licensing fees, Brokerage fees, Advertising fees. That’s it. And it is through understanding your clients and their capacity to pay for something that we choose the appropriate method. What is it that people need, why do they want to hire your products or services and how do they expect to use what you have to sell. So let’s look at them and what they have as expectations and advantages.
So now you can ask yourself: how would my clients be most advantaged? That approach will generate more business than any other approach due to its clientcentric nature. So ask yourself, “If my product or service is too expensive or burdensome for my clients, how can I build a business model that is based on service and not your personal desires.”
Good luck!
Learn More
BRAND!
The greatest act anyone can do is creation. Brand is one thing that we are told daily not to do. We are told not to pretend to be something else, be genuine, you can’t judge a book by its cover, blah, blah, blah. Life is made up of people looking out their windows and judging things; the neighbours, the lawn, someone’s car, the computer that someone uses, you name it. So what is a brand? It is the greatest lie because it is a fabulation that you are going to choose to represent ideals. Those things that we can never reach but that we fantasize about obtaining.
Here’s another thing: your brand isn’t for you. It’s for your clients. People aren’t there for you! As a captain of industry, you are there as the servant of the people. You are not there to be served, you are there to serve the needs of the people, and they are there waiting for someone who will fulfill their needs. Perhaps they don’t know that their need exists. It may be your job to create awareness of the need and to communicate your brand and its ability to fulfill their needs.
Your brand is the thing you want to be. So, when you start your company or when you renew your Mission/Vision/Values, you have the chance to invent what you want to be. What your company could be. It is an empty space that you will fill with actions that you will take in the attempt to become something greater than any one person could hope to become.
So what are you saying Aaron? Are you telling me to lie to people so that they’ll buy my stuff?
Absolutely not! I am telling you that your brand isn’t about you. It’s about the people who need what you have to sell, whether it’s a service or a product. And it is the clients who need to identify with your brand as being part of their tribe, they need to see themselves in your brand. If people don’t judge that you are in line with their values, their traditions, their ways, they will do business with someone else first because they will identify first with that brand and not yours!
Learn More
People are meaning-making-machines. We need meaning, we need to find reasons and relationships. Try and get away in a world that is empty and meaningless and you will fall in between the cracks filled with those who provide people with meaning. So if you choose a company name that has no meaning, internal or external, people will have a hard time making yous stick in their heads.
When I started my Storage business, I spent about 8 months finding the name that would work. I founded Casa Grande self storage. Why? Because, we went through a hundred names before settling on that one!
A name has power and we can’t forget that. It is what people told fairy tales about and so many stories. When you know the name of something you have power over that thing. You also have the ability to call upon it and to use it. In the best known fairy tale, the hard working girl has to guess the name of the tricky gnome (Rumplestiltskin) to get out of the horrible deal that has been cut.
Even when my children came about, we spent a great deal of time hammering out which names to give them…And other great successes today have done the same. Look at:
All names that are huge in their own right and all of them tell you exactly what they do! There is no working hard to figure out what these companies do and how they can help you! Please help your clients because they have better things to do than figure you out. People work hard to assimilate all the diverse and complicated information that is out there. People are here because they want to live their lives…Not because they want to make you rich. It is not your client’s job to understand you and to figure out why you’re the right business to do business with. It is your job to understand what job your clients have to do and let them know that you can do it for them!
If you decide to come up with the name that makes you happy but no one understands, go ahead but don’t sit around waiting for people to break down your door because they know exactly what you do and how you do it!
Learn More
Recent Comments