If your heart is not in your business (or anything you are doing for that matter); you might as well not own the business. Your business is just going to drag along at best and in worst case it will fail causing you financial and emotional pain.
We say this from our experience at a concert we attended this past weekend.
Here you have a renowned singer whose songs we love… A great artist who as recorded number of songs; several of which have gone platinum… A mentor who is training the next generation of singers… In short, someone who is sure to provide great live entertainment.
And yet it just didn’t feel right at the concert. I kept telling my friend “there is something missing here”. The concert just didn’t have that atmosphere. At the end it hit me!! It wasn’t that he was singing poorly (although at some points he did). It was that he seemed to be somewhere else. His heart appeared to not want to be at the concert. He was singing because he had to. Because he was getting paid.
There is a good lesson here for all small business owners. If you heart is not there when you are interacting with your customers, employees, vendors or anyone else; it will show through and those people you are interacting with recognize it – just like we did at the concert. They will think twice about doing business with you in the future – just like we will about this singer. Believe it or not; if you do not have your heart in anything you are doing at that moment people around you will find out no matter how hard you try not to show it through.
What can you do to ensure your heart is where it should be? We have few suggestions:
- Pay attention – It’s very simple; yet is so hard in this overworked world with short attention span. If you are talking to your customers or employees look in their eyes. Give them your undivided attention. Do not keep looking over your shoulder or at your phone as if you want to be somewhere else.
- Smile – Amazing what a little smile can do to the surroundings even when the other person can’t see you.
- Give you best – My father used to say – it doesn’t matter what you do professionally as long as you do it with heart. You will have the opportunity to rise through the ranks even if you are starting at the bottom. McDonald’s has had several people in management ranks who started at minimum wage job at the company.
- Show enthusiasm – It is very interesting how enthusiasm from one person rubs up on all those around. Not only that; but it also shows that you enjoy what you are doing and will give it your best shot. A clerk at a grocery store I go to always strikes interesting conversation with each of his customers with great enthusiasm. And he is just running a grocery isle!! Customers love it. I am sure he is going to go places.
Do you agree with our view? What have you learned from your personal and business experience?
