I recently revisited the business plan I drafted in early 2020 when I was happy to be launching my new business. Business plans should be a roadmap for your business, something that guides you and captures all of the steps and milestones toward reaching your business goals. I’ll talk more about business plans in a later article on my LinkedIn Channel Imp/Act News.
For now, I’d like to talk about your business values — at least as important as your business plan to create the foundations for your business to succeed. These are the core principles and beliefs that shape your company’s culture, provide guidance for all of your strategic decisions and govern your relationships with your team and customers.
As I started to build my business – coaching small business owners and working on larger consulting projects – I started to think through the principles that drive me and my business and came up with my core business values:
Integrity | Inclusion + Diversity | Curiosity + Learning | Collaboration | Innovation | Impact
It was only a few weeks ago, when I started working with my own business coach, that I pulled out my business plan for a much-needed review and update. And after spending time revisiting the various clients I’ve worked with over the last few years and how my business has evolved and grown, I realized a core value was missing from my list: JOY.
That one word shifted my entire perspective on how I think about the work that I do and clarified my core services. When I initially made the decision to create a business coaching and consulting firm, it was based on creating a business centered on work that I love doing and that makes a huge impact on the business and personal lives of my clients – helping them with the tools and guidance to grow the business they want to have so they can have the life they want.
Running a business is incredibly hard with challenges popping up constantly. Not to mention the last 2+ years with its own life-altering changes and trials. Taking the time to write down your core business values is a great reminder of why you started your business in the first place. You may have been driven to create your business around a particular passion, a desire to impact your community, a need for more freedom and time with family and friends, or a particular lifestyle.
For me, adding JOY to my core values brings me back to the excitement of starting my business coaching/consulting firm after leaving a long career practicing law, (temporarily) moving across the country for an MBA program – and finding that I could make my own impact after meeting incredibly talented and passionate small business owners and supporting them in creating business systems and marketing plans to help them grow their business.
Why did you start your business and what are your core business values?
If you want to enjoy your business once again, reach out to me for a Free Consultation today.
