Hit snooze or not hit snooze? Coffee at home or coffee at Starbucks? Work late or take it home? …you get the picture. Choices are placed upon from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to bed at night.
The choices we make affect every part of our life – home, work, business, social, etc. I recently heard a great sermon about choices and found it very applicable to business. One bad business choice and you could end up in jail. One good choice and you could be like Warren Buffett.
When we make a choice for our business, it will affect more than one person. We have to be wise and use great caution.
There are three important things to know when making those crucial business decisions – wavering on any of them and you could end up down a path you didn’t intend to go down.
Know who you are and to whom you answer to.
The most successful people in business will be those who know who they are and what they will/won’t do. You have to know how you’ll react to certain situations and be prepared for them – and know what you will and won’t compromise on. We also have to keep in mind we answer to someone – it could be based on our religion, it could be your boss or business partner – it could even be your kids or bank account. Every choice we make affects more than just ourselves.
Example – recently I wrote an extremely personal post about losing clients. I am someone deeply rooted in my faith and know that that faith is what leads me on in my business. I know there’s a higher power looking out for me in what I do so I know when something doesn’t go right, I have to answer to that.
Knowing who you are a businessperson sets the tone for the way you conduct yourself and your business. People can tell a lot about a person based on the way they act.
Know what you stand for ahead of time.
Your character has a lot to do with what your stand for. There’s a country song by Aaron Tippin that says “you’ve got to stand for something – or you’ll fall for anything.” In today’s fast-paced business world this is so true. You have individuals and businesses coming at you from every angle – “Buy 10,000 Twitter followers for just $10!” “Yes, you can copy that person’s post and pass it off as your own!” “Let’s hack that website!” What you do in those situations says a lot about your character and the type of businessperson you are. If you already know ahead of time what you stand for and what you will and won’t do, it will make those decisions MUCH easier.
My Pastor quoted a college student he was mentoring and it really marked the point of this –
US Senator Dan Coats was quoted as saying, “Character cannot be summoned at the moment of crisis if it has been squandered by years of compromise and rationalization…Habit is the daily battleground of character.”
When you face difficult or questionable decisions/choices, what you do will already have been determined by the choices that led you there. What are your daily habits? Are they a reflection of who you are?
So, what do you stand for?
Know that it’s never wrong to do right.
Those who continually do right are the ones who see the most success. Albert Einstein once said that what is right is not always popular. Yes, you may lose a client or job over making the right choice, but you know what? Something better is on the horizon. Would you rather make the right choice and be able to sleep at night or compromise your beliefs/standards and know a stress you’ve never known?
In the business world, doing what’s right is very hard to do. We have temptations all around us – plagiarizing posts, buying fake communities to inflate numbers, just lying in general about being an expert when you just started yesterday. Don’t give in and compromise – you are never wrong when you do what’s right.
How do your choices affect what you do? What do you do when faced with a difficult/questionable decision?
I know this isn’t your typical social marketing post, but there are times when we have to work on ourselves and grow as business owners. If we are going to be successful in a field where there are literally millions of social media professionals, we need to do what we can to develop ourselves as business leaders and make ourselves stand out from those who are not in this for the right reasons.