First of all, what are core values and why are they important? How do core values help us run our business?
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What are Core Values?
When you think about core values, you probably think about the things that you hold near and dear to your heart. These are virtues or standards. Here are some examples of core values to get you thinking:
- responsibility
- truth
- faithfulness
- legacy
- service
- celebration
- respect
- loyalty
- collaboration
- people over profit
- people first
- serve first
- progress not perfection
- build your people so your people can build your business
- happiness first
- happy at work happy at home
This is what we call core values. These would be things that are they are intrinsic to you there are things that you operate around whether consciously or subconsciously. They are a part of you and as the business owner they therefore overflow and become a part of your business.
Whether it's just you and your blog, you and a team, or you in an entire corporate office, these core values are things that become a part of the culture. They become a part of who you are. What happens is when we try to operate outside of the consciousness of these core values we tend to go off track.
What are the Best Personal Core Values?
Core values can help you stay in alignment with your vision. They can help you stay focused on your goals. They can help you make day-to-day decisions. When you're aware of them and acting upon them. So then you can stay in alignment with with what you're called to do and with where you want to go in your business.
The other day, our business coach took us through a core values activity. So, I'm going to share it with all of you. Let's take two or three minutes and just write down all the words that come to mind, and all those things that may be important to you. What's important to you in life and in business? Is that loyalty or is that people first? Is it serving others or knowledge or always learning? Maybe it is making mistakes so you know enough to try again.
Think of things that are important to you in your business. Make a list of those and just brainstorm as many as you can. Now that you've got your list of things that are important to you, go back and star your top three. What are the top three things that are the most important to you.
What Values Should My Business Have?
When I was making this list, the three that came up for me are truth, legacy, and community. I believe that everything in my life and business has to be founded on truth, God's truth, the eternal truth. I have to take God into account in my business in order to run it His way. So, in everything that I do in my life and in business, I need to consider
- What do I know to be true about God?
- What do I know to be true about me?
- What do I know to be true about the situation
- What's my next step right?
Stop and ask yourself ,what is the truth that you know, Not how you feel or the way things look, but what is the truth. Then based on the truth, make a decision. This is something I teach my clients. So truth is a big one for me.
Our second one is legacy. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Why does it matter? Will it matter in the future? So, legacy is big, too. I'm not just building for building sake or just working for working sake. I'm not just making money for here and now. I am working towards something that I see is going to be bigger than me.
Culture and Business Growth
Our next core value is community. Being in Mexico, isolated from a community for so long, especially as we started our business, it really became a part of me to want community. I desire it for myself but also desire to give it. I personally get the most energized when I'm teaching, working with coaching clients in a group or one-on-one, or when I'm on stage. That's what energizes me. That's where I am able to give of what I know and help other people. I get to see the light bulb moments, the hope, and watch them pop things into place that will better their lives, their businesses, and their impact.
So community is huge to me. When I did this exercise, those are the three that stood out for me: truth, legacy, and community. For other people it may be service and ingenuity or creativity and faithfulness. There's no right or wrong. You know intrinsically what your core values are. Once you recognize what those are, then you're able to use them as a guiding light to help you stay on the path.
Why Core Values are So Important!
Then you can ask yourself questions about a new product, a new decision, a new hire, or a new thing that you're doing in your business such as a new promotion. Does align with truth, legacy, and community. If it doesn't, then I have to think long and hard about what place it has in my business.
This was huge! It helped me just even in the last couple of weeks to go through the things that we're doing in our business and evaluate what we're doing, why, and does it align. I realized that one of our biggest offerings, one of our premium courses, did not include that element of community and that's why I kept hitting a wall when it came time to promote it. That's why I couldn't put my full heart behind it, but I wouldn't have recognized that unless I had gone through this exercise of the core values. Once you do this, then you will know what things are most important to you.
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