What business are you in?

Remember when you started your business?  What was the first thing you did? Likely got a logo and business cards printed.  But according to our recent speaker  Charmian Christie, we’ve got it all wrong.  Doing the logo is the last thing we should be doing.

Why?  Because first we need to think about what business are we in.  We need to work out what we want to do and even more important, what we don’t want to do, and why.

Charmian was speaking from experience as she shared the dips and turns she went through to get to her current business.   She found that she just kept saying yes to everything that came her way.  And I remember doing that when I had my consulting practice, partly because you don’t know when the next contract is going to come in.  The freelance life can be a feast or a famine.

But Chairman found that she was taking on too much, doing stuff she didn’t really like or work that didn’t sit well with her values.  So she started to make two lists, one of the work she wanted to do, and the other of work that she didn’t.

She also drew up standards for herself in terms of what she would do to promote her brand on social media, and again what she would not do – such as make political comments.  Although as she laughingly acknowledged, these days that is hard, but she has drawn a line in the sand and just won’t go there.

Only after she’d gone through this process did she determine the name of her business, the look and the design of her logo.  Then she had a brand, a brand that she was proud to promote.

She encouraged us all to come up with one word to describe the business we are in.

As your business evolves, know that this can change. 

If you had asked me this question when I first started Company of Women, my answer would have been we were in the support business.  But today… while we still provide support, I think we are moving more towards the confidence business.  In other words, I’d like to think we give you the tools and confidence to succeed, and most importantly, it's success on your own terms.

Let me ask you, what business are you in? 

Do your values define your business?

When you say someone is professional, what do you mean?  We had quite the discussion about this at one of our meetings this week, when two profs from University of Guelph came to ask our opinion.

Knowing they were coming, I’d actually given the topic some thought and found it interesting, that it was far easier for me to come up with what is unprofessional – like being late for a meeting, neglecting to say thank you when you’ve received some help,    being indiscreet, or crossing boundaries from professional to personal.

When we delved into this further, there was much conversation about social media,  and Facebook in particular, being the downfall of some folks, who reveal and share way too much personal information, and thereby diminish their standing and regard by others.   Employers just have to check out their Facebook page, and jobs are lost or careers railroaded.

So what does professional behaviour look like?  We felt it was about respect, and not just how you treat people, but the environment and how you communicate with others.

It’s about follow up – delivering on your promises.  It’s having and holding true to a high standard in your career. It’s acknowledging the contributions of others.  And it’s also how you show up in the world – as a person and yes, in how you dress.

The consensus was that Casual Friday has done nothing to enhance the professionalism in the workplace.  In fact, someone remarked that we’ve lost our sense of occasion – when we’d dress up to go out for dinner or a birthday party.

This whole dialogue was a prelude to our next topic – one on values and how our values impact and need to reflect our brand.  Two fairly connected topics in a way, as both hold us to our intentions and as women, often our need to be authentic.

But values are not something we likely give much thought to as we embark on this world of entrepreneurship, and yet we can quickly discover that they impact what we do and won’t do within our business.  It therefore behooves us to think and reflect on what values we hold close and which would be deal-breakers.

I know for myself integrity, honesty, respect and ethical behaviour are all strong values for me and I’ve been in situations when that line has been crossed, and I’ve had to make tough decisions.  In one instance, I quit the project because I did not want to be part of what, in my view,  was unethical.   On another occasion I ended a business partnership as I didn’t like the way she treated my team.

But the other part of digging deep on your values, is that they may well be the deciding factor for a potential client on why they want to go with you, rather than someone else.  So your marketing, your brand and your website presence needs to convey what you hold near and dear.

How do you do that?  By using the words that describe your values in your marketing materials.  By being the leader and role modeling your values to others.  For example, if giving back is important to you, showcase what you do in the community to make a difference.  Have giving back be an integral part of your website. Foster it in your employees – give them time off to volunteer.  Involve them in your philanthropic activities.

We covered a lot of ground in two hours, and I know we all left with plenty to think about, and to do in terms working authentically, professionally and with integrity within our businesses.  

Self-awareness is important – it’s time well-spent.  I encourage you to delve in and reflect. Ask yourself about your values?  How do you convey them to the world, and are you true to them?  What does professional mean to you?

Let us know, it would be fun to keep this dialogue going.

Branding Yourself

In running Company of Women, I get to meet some wonderful women with amazing stories to tell. One such woman is Diana Bishop, who was our guest speaker last night. With no notes (which always impresses me), she told her story with humour - always keeping her audience attentive and entertained.

With self-effacing honesty, she shared her fascinating climb up the journalism ladder, from the early days when her assignment was to write about white asparagus, to her national break when she covered a story about three ducks stuck in the ice , to her years in China as one of the first female foreign reporters with CBS, CTV and then NBS.

There she was at the peak in her career, earning big dollars but something was missing. Many of us would have just stuck it out, but Diana felt compelled to follow her heart and see where it led. She left her job, unsure of what the future would unfold.

When she reflected back on her career, she realized that what she truly loved was the storytelling. She turned her seasoned interviewing skills into a business through which she helps people share their story and then packages it so they can use the material as a marketing tool to brand their business. And it works.

Her advice to the women in the audience was to find their passion, to think about their special talents and find the one thing that truly differentiates them from anyone else, because when you build your brand on who you are and what makes you unique; no one else can come close.

Many of the women told me that they'd been really tired when they first arrived, but following Diana's presentation, they felt energized and renewed. They left with a bounce to their step, full of enthusiasm and hope. Thank you Diana for your story - it warmed our hearts, let us laugh out loud and gave us food for thought. What is my one thing? Stay tuned.