Stranger in a Strange Land?
or …”Grab Your Passport – We’re Going to Businessikstan.”
Why is it that business seems to be a foreign land? They talk funny, they dress different and they use money in really weird ways. And before you go out there, you need to visit the library to learn everything you can about the people. It seems that everything you were raised with is wrong and now the natives of this strange land are going to point at you and laugh if you step out of line.
Ok, maybe that’s just artists and designers that feel that way. Maybe there are others that didn’t learn Business-speak in kindergarten.
But there are some similarities between the Old Country and the Promised Land. Here are some things I learned during my formative years that (as far as I know) are still truths.
1. Treat Others as You Would Like to be Treated
Saying please and thank you, holding open doors for others and maintaining some kind of eye contact should be the norm. In the real world, I don’t remember expecting my friends to call me every other day just to go out for coffee, and trying to word their requests cleverly to include an open question. So why is it that in sales we are meant to annoy the living daylights out of people who we want to willingly hand over their hard earned cash? I know how I like to be treated, and I treat prospects the same way. With respect and decor. How old fashioned of me!
2. What Goes Around Comes Around
In business, as in life, you need others to help you. So offering some help to others is the beginning of the cycle. Call it Karma, call it what you want, but you will reap what you sow. Do you expect your clients to give you streams of referrals? Then refer others to the suppliers who make your job so much easier. This tends to run on from #1, since you will end up being treated the way you treat others.
3. Money is Not the Be All and End All
Your parents probably taught you the same way you would teach your children – there are things more important than money. Quaint quotes on calendars and those nauseating motivational posters that ‘other offices’ seem to be plastered with tell us that the love of money is the root of all evil. We nod and believe the email signatures from others, but do we act like it’s true? Is there something more important in business than money? (see #1 and #2) Agreed, the main reason people go into business is to make a living, and owners obviously need to be fiscally responsible.But if you see every person you ever meet with a dollar sign on their heads, the chances are you are in an MLM and nothing will stop you making cash at every breath. You may have to hire mourners for your funeral.
4. Family Comes First
Get out your embroidery kit and make a cross stitch of this one incase you forget. If I spend sixteen hours at the office because I think I want to provide for my family, the only thing I could provide for them is an income. What about my time and attention?
5. Tell the Truth
If your product isn’t twice as effective as the leading competitor, don’t tell anyone it is. If you are running a Multi Level Marketing system, but everyone you talk to is scared of MLMs, wouldn’t they be upset after you duped them into joining your telephone long distance plan only to learn that it’s an MLM after all? Sure I could probably make $63,000 in 36 hours with your scheme, but what is the catch? Be upfront. (Should I really be stating things like ‘Tell the Truth’ in a blog meant for adults?)
6. Don’t Steal
Buy software. Let me say that again – Buy software! Going back to treating others the way you want to be treated, you don’t want to be stealing other people’s products if you want to sell your own products for top dollar.
7. Obey the Law
If your country of origin prohibits mass emails due to spamming laws, how ethical is it to sidestep that law and use offshore servers? It’s a loophole that means you won’t get caught. By the time you start Grade 1 you’ve learned that getting caught or not is not the benchmark for right or wrong.
8. Keep it Simple
Complicated and intricate are not synonyms for powerful and effective. Otherwise, everyone would use Windows (just kidding – sort of). Just because you can throw all kinds of jargon and insider information in one sentence, doesn’t mean you are the one to be trusted. What if we all spoke as if we wanted to be understood? Isn’t that the point? If you are writing for the web, this is particularly important as Google favours writing at a grade 9 level.
These are principles that I do my best to adhere to in the course of running a graphic design business.
What have I missed? Are there any other simple truths out there that should apply to every aspect of life?
Well…this article made me think of how I will always be outbidded by those people in “Businessikstan”. I cannot live on $5/hr. for my design abilities. I think there is something wrong here. Absolutely no professional standards on these freelance-project based sites. The cheaper, the better the chance of the artist getting the job.
I hope biz turns around soon.
Great article – resonates really well with me. Being genuine is so refreshing!