I Didn’t Just Start A Brand; I Became One
8 Rules for building the right business for you
Young, Dumb, and Hungry
When I was young I always dreamed of becoming a successful businessman. I didn’t have the privilege of growing up in a family of entrepreneurs but I had ambitions of starting my own business with my close friends. I envisioned it like everybody would want what we had, we would be making a lot of money and eventually become an overnight success in the process. I saw myself as a business mogul with ownership in hundreds of other businesses and I had enough money to take everybody out of the hood and make a better life for all of us. It wasn’t until I actually started my own business that I stopped living in my own fairytale and got hit hard by reality. Yes I was hungry for success but I didn’t know how much it would cost me to get it.
My first start up needless to say was a disaster. I just got back from serving a tour in Iraq and getting ready to leave the military for good. I just had a baby who was several months old and I had no clue as to what I was doing. At the time I didn’t have a proper business plan, I had no real vision as to what I was actually going to sell and my management skills were subpar to say the least. I started an event promotion company because I wanted to throw parties, make money, and have fun doing it with my friends. At first I wasn’t even sure how I was going to do it but I had a drive and I was motivated. A friend of mine gave me a tip. He told me about a guy he knew who was able to broker a deal with a local bar/club owner. He convinced the owner to let him promote a particular night of the week. The deal was that he would get all the money from the door and the owner would keep all the money from the bar. When I heard that I thought to myself “You know what? I can do that.” So I put together a pitch and I contacted a few bars/clubs and I was able to set up a meeting with a couple of the owners.
To this day I don’t even know how but I was able to convince two owners to give me a night and collect money from the door. All I had to do was get bodies inside. In my mind I was like “Game on.” To make a long story short, I made some money and I did have some fun, however a series of unfortunate events happened that caused me to go belly up and I had to shut the business down. It was the lowest I had ever been in my life at the time. I felt like I let everybody down. I had to flee my apartment because I could no longer afford to pay the rent and I moved back to my Mothers house in New York. I was a failure but I thank God the story doesn’t end here.
Reflections
Over a decade later as I looked back at my foolish decisions I realized all the mistakes I made. At the time I had no idea how to properly create a business nor did I even have a proper perspective on what my business was going to be about. One of my biggest regrets was not taking the time to develop myself and increase my abilities properly. Everything was “Learn as you go” and because of that mentality I fell into many pitfalls along the way. Yes, I did learn many things but the cost was much higher than I ever anticipated.
Sometimes I wish that I had proper guidance as to the do’s and don’ts of building a business. I wish that I wasn’t so impulsive and took the time to develop a plan as to how I was going to get to my destination. I wish that I knew myself better because I finally realized that knowing yourself makes all the difference. Because if I knew who I really was, why I was here, what I could do, where I was from and where I wanted to go; I wouldn’t have just started a business, I would have become the business.
Lesson Learned
Over the years I learned principles that helped me realize certain truths about life. One of the principles I learned was about Identity. One of the most important things a business needs is an identity. And it’s not as simple as just having a logo and a name. Identity is the foundation of anything. Because within the identity is the “Why.” It’s the “I am, who I am.” The identity holds the purpose and the vision of the creation that was given to it by the creator.
If you are starting a business for the first time, you must establish an identity of your business. The business must embody your principles as well as you must embody the principles of the business. Les Brown once said “It’s not enough to give the message but you must be the message.” That is why self-discovery is so important in this aspect, because if you don’t discover the principles that make you who you are, then how can you build a business that has a solid foundation?
The most valuable asset that you have is yourself and you are the foundation of your business. Many people start businesses but very few of them last over a decade. Why is that? Because they forgot to establish the most important thing, which is the foundation. And the foundation of anything is in its identity. Foundations are built on principles that are based on truth. Your identity is your truth. Your business can only grow to the extent of your own internal growth. So if you want to build your brand you must discover the truth about yourself. You must learn the principles and laws that are going to help you become your own business. In this article, I decided to share some of those principles that I learned with you.
If you have a desire to become an entrepreneur or if you already are one, I’m doing this to help you not make the same mistakes that I did. If you are already seeing a measure of success but you haven’t discovered these principles that I‘m going to share with you, then I encourage you to do yourself a favor and learn them so that you can sustain your business for decades to come.
Eight Rules for Building Your Business The Right Way
Here are eight principles that will help you to become your brand as well as maximize the potential of your business.
Rule 1) Know Your Purpose
My first big mistake in business was I didn’t really take the time to identify my “Why.” In the beginning all I was thinking about was how to make money. And the more I thought about how to make money, the more it slipped out of my grasp. It wasn’t until I discovered my purpose in life that my results in business began to change.
Your purpose is the “Why.” It is the belief that you have in yourself and the reason why you are doing whatever it is that you do. Your purpose is something that you were born with. That’s why you won’t find it outside of yourself. You can only discover it within. Purpose helps to form your vision. It helps to give meaning to your talents and natural abilities. Knowing your purpose increases your passion for life. It gives you a reason to get up in the morning. Every superhero needs a purpose. Once you find yours, you will eventually discover your destiny.
When you create your business, you must have a purpose that is greater than just making money. Because if you are in business just to make money, then you are not playing the infinite game. It’s like living life just for instant gratification and pleasure. That’s not the right way to live. Pleasure is a byproduct of life. You don’t have to seek it out because you’re going to get it anyway. It’s the same with money. It is a byproduct of doing business. If you have a gift that people want, they will pay you for it. Money is a means to an end but not the end itself. Meaning that money should not be the end goal. The end goal is to fulfill your purpose. Once you find your purpose, the money will eventually come.
Rule 2) Document The Vision
In order to be a visionary you need a vision. In order to effectively lead you need to know where you are going. It is the job of the one who is leading to have the vision and communicate that vision with others. A vision is the conceptual imagery you see within your mind. It is your dream for the future. The image of what you wish to happen. It is what could be and yet it is currently not. Your vision is linked to your purpose. It is the visual representation of the manifestation of what the fulfillment of your purpose looks like.
You need to make your vision plain by writing it down. When you document your vision it takes it out of your mind and places it into the world. This is the first step for turning your dreams into reality. Documenting it is essential to refining your vision until it’s simple, direct, and very easy for you to communicate with others. I rewrite my vision every few months or so because as I continue to move forward, the more details I begin to see and the more clear it becomes. In most cases your vision always starts out broad, but as you continue down the path it becomes more detailed and narrow. To the point where you will know exactly where you want your life to go and how you want it to look like.
Your vision helps to craft your strategy. It helps to create your plan of action. In the bible it speaks a lot about vision. In one place it’s written that “The people perish for a lack of vision.” Vision is so critical to growth and development that without it, there is no progress. Your vision should chart the way for your business. Your vision shows you the end state. It doesn’t necessarily show you how you’re going to get there, however it shows you the destination of what “There” looks like.
A business without a vision will surely fail in the long run. It is the job of the leadership to develop and maintain that vision. When you create your business, your vision should be the vision. The end state of the business is up to you because it’s yours.
Rule 3) Be in The Right Environment
A seed cannot grow until you put it in dirt, give it water and plenty of sunshine. Certain kinds of seeds need to be in certain temperatures as well. It needs to be in the right environment with the right conditions in order for it to become what it is meant to be. The same goes for you. You cannot grow fully as a person until you have the right conditions. But ultimately you must set those conditions for yourself. If your group of friends are not helping you to become who you are meant to be, then you need to find a new group. You have to surround yourself with the right people that will act as good fertilizer for your seed.
Your ideas are your seeds. They can only grow when you incubate them in the right environment. Seeds will remain seeds until you begin the process of developing them. It’s the same with ideas. Your ideas come from your mind. Until you begin to develop them, they will stay as ideas in your mind. Everyone has ideas, but not everyone knows how to turn an idea into what it’s supposed to become.
All businesses start out as ideas. Your business will only grow when the right conditions are met. When you surround yourself with the right people, circumstances and energy, then you will be able to grow a substantial business. Not that you can’t grow it under bad circumstances, it’s just harder and takes longer to grow. And sustaining growth overtime in bad conditions probably won’t work. The roots are the foundation of the plant. If the roots are healthy the plant is healthy; if the roots are rotten, even if the plant looks healthy for a time; it will eventually shrivel up and die.
Rule 4) Feed on The Right Content
In order to produce your fruits you must have the right nourishment. You become what you eat. This is true physically, mentally and spiritually. If you eat only fatty, greasy, unhealthy foods; you will become fat, greasy and unhealthy. If you eat nutritional, energy filled, healthy foods; you will be filled with nutrients, energy and health.
Your habits will determine the shape of your life. If you want to grow properly, you must fill your mind with positive affirmations and truth. You must listen to things that educate, positively stimulate, and edify your soul. You can’t just watch and listen to garbage all day and expect not to be affected by it. What you put in is what you get out. Whatever you download into your heart is what is going to come out of it. Protect yourself from bad content. It’s like eating sugar. Even though it tastes good, too much of it can be bad for you. Turn off things that will give you a negative mindset. Start attending seminars and workshops. Listen daily to positive speeches and watch motivational videos.
Moderation is key. Having balance in life goes a long way. The same is true with your business. Your business will take the shape of whatever you feed it. The people you hire need to be trained and fed with good content or they will not grow properly. This is why businesses spend billions of dollars on training and development. The problem is that the training isn’t always the best.
The things that you watch and listen to will shape what you believe and your ideas about yourself and the world. Whatever beliefs you develop in life, those beliefs will carry over into your business. And the people who work with you will be affected by those beliefs.
Rule 5) Give Yourself Time to Develop
Being patient and trusting in the process is very important. It takes time for a seed to become a tree and produce fruit. In that time the roots are growing strong and deeper into the ground. In the same way you must give yourself time to grow and develop your abilities and your character. Mastery doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process that involves much patience. You must learn to take it day by day. There are many tasks that need to be done when building a business. It helps when you can map it out because it makes the journey more bearable and less chaotic.
Even though you develop a plan, you should always be flexible. When water is flowing down the stream and an obstacle is in its way, It doesn’t stop moving. It goes around it and keeps moving forward. Water is not rigid. It is constantly flowing and changing its shape to meet the needs of the moment. As time continues on, you will have to adapt and overcome many obstacles. Because when you first start, you don’t see everything. That’s just how it is. You will always be lacking some kind of information, but the trick is to adapt and keep moving forward. Eventually you will get to your destination. It just might not be as fast as you would like it to be.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. The same is true for your business. In order to build something long lasting it will take some time. It is your job to stay patient along the process.
Rule 6) Persist Under Pressure
Persistence, and resilience are two principles that every entrepreneur must become familiar with. These two principles are important characteristics to have because it helps you to endure until you reach your destination. Persistence is the ability to stick with something for a long time. Resilience is the measure of toughness to recover quickly from difficulties.
Pressure isn’t necessarily bad. It is applied to show you what you’re made of. Whatever vision you have it will be tested. It’s tested to make sure that it’s authentic. The authenticity of your vision will determine how much you can endure. No matter how things look, if your faith in purpose and vision is strong then you will make it through. If your belief is greater than your fear, then what you believe will overshadow the fear that you have. But if your fear is greater than your belief; then what you fear will overshadow your belief.
Your business will be tested no matter what. It will be so you might as well get used to the idea and be ready for what life throws at you. But always remember, diamonds are made by the use of pressure.
Rule 7) Serve Your Gift to The World
When a tree bears fruit. The fruit is not for the sake of the tree. It’s for the service of others. It is the same with your gift. The gift is not solely for you, it was given to you so you can serve it to the world. So many people miss this one point. They make it about themselves instead of the gift. When people are praising you for how well you do something, they are not necessarily praising you. They are praising your gift. Pablo Picasso once said “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
As a human being, It is your duty to discover your talents and use them for the betterment of others. But it’s not just a one way street. If you look at it the right way, you will see that it is a symbiotic relationship. Because you benefit from serving your gift to others because you get a sense of fulfillment and you will generate wealth. Your gift helps you make products and services. It’s your hub for creativity and service.
The greatest among us are the ones who figure out how to serve their gifts to many. The smartest thing you can do is to serve your gift for free at every opportunity you get. When you go to the food court in the mall, there are people who are giving out free samples. If you are like me then you will definitely get a little taste of the goods before you buy. If that taste is good I start to look at the menu. I get excited because I’m still enjoying the free taste that I got. So I usually order the entree of whatever the free sample was. This illustration works the same as when you give your gift away for free. You are giving people a free sample of your menu. Just a little taste in order to convince them to buy. It works especially good if they are trying your food for the first time. And you know it tastes good because it is your area of expertise.
If you want to generate wealth with your business; if you want to have an impact in the world; if you wish to be great and leave a lasting impression. Learn how to effectively serve your gift to as many people as possible.
Rule 8) Secure The Next Generation
You must always remember that when you are playing the infinite game, the race is not to the swift, it’s to those that endure until the end. This is why generational wealth is so important because you are not building your business just for yourself. You want to build something that will outlast you. Something that you can give to your successors that they can build upon the foundation you laid. And then they will give it to their successors and build upon it even more.
Securing the next generation is a tell tale sign of your ability as a leader. A true leader knows how to develop others to become leaders. They are able to work themselves out of a job by handing it over to someone else. Your business will never be just about you. You must think long-term and have a greater vision. What happens to it after you’re gone? Is your brand strong enough to outlast you? Think about that.
Conclusion
Building a business is almost like raising a family. Your products and services are your babies. Nurturing and developing them takes time. But I guarantee you, if you stick it out and provide for them; if you never leave them nor forsake them and do right by them; the return on your investment will be worth all of the growing pains you will have to go through. There will be some trials and tribulations. It comes with the territory. However there also will be love, respect and fulfillment. You just have to learn to take the good times with the bad. But in the end it will all be worth it.
Hans Fleurimont,
theartoflevelingup.com | LinkedIn
