When you hear the words poverty, climate change, and pollution, do you sometimes feel helpless?
These words, the uncertainty and suffering they cause fell so far away from you and me, where we sit comfortably behind our computers. They are suitable for government strategies, but for us as individuals, what can we do? What do we do as individuals? How can we contribute to the renewal of an entire international system? How can we build, as I love to call it, the heart-centred economy?
How can we become a force for good? We have to start where we are. We have to start with what we can control- control the controllable. And the first place to start is with people. We have to go back to the core of the economy. The economy is made for people. The economy is made for you.
You are starting this business. You are running this business. This business is for you and your personal objectives so that you can become the highest expression of yourself. You are running this business for your customers so that they can be transformed through what you provide: they can feel beautiful in your clothes, they can feel empowered with your work, and they can heal with your work. That’s why you are doing it: for your customers. Also, you are doing it together with people. You are not working alone because nobody can work alone. You are working for your partners and with your partners. They are working for and with you. These people should be the place to start and you have to start with yourself.
And how can we control the controllable? By asking these three questions:
First: What do you want? What do you want to see in your life? What is the kind of life that you would like to see? Where would you like to wake up? What would you like to eat? What kind of clothes would you like to wear? What kind of conversations would you like to have? What do you want?
Second: What do you need? What are your needs? This is so key. I need self-expression. That’s why I ended up making videos. There are some people who love adventure and that’s why they travel everywhere. There are some people who love security and that’s why they stay put somewhere. There are some people who love learning and studying and that’s the reason why they do research. Some people love negotiation- they need it. So what do you need? When you think about your needs, then it is very easy to decide what actions you are going to take. So first question, what do you want? Second, what do you need?
Third: What are you willing to do to satisfy your wants and your needs? This is crucial to do for yourself so that you can actually transform your business alongside personal transformation.
But you can take it a notch higher by asking the same questions about your customers. What kind of people would you like to have as a customer? Who would you want to have as customers? Take it to the next level: What do they need? Engage what they need. And then, remember the third question: what are you willing to do to satisfy their needs?
Ask these questions repeatedly and ask them of your partners, your employees, and of anybody else around you. Ask what they want, what kind of partner they want, what kind of employee they want, what kind of customer they want. What do they need? And finally, what you are willing to give in order to satisfy this relationship, in order to build this relationship?
You see, I love to wake up in the morning to conversations with my husband because I love learning. I need new knowledge. I love it. So what am I willing to give? I have plans and time set aside in my day when I just listen to him. He loves reading at night and every morning he showers me with new knowledge. It’s wonderful. I already have it in my mind that in the morning, I will be open to listening to my husband.
You see, I love to work with entrepreneurs. These are my favorite customers. So what do they need? They need the latest innovation so that they can perform. So what am I willing to do? Read, study, be there on the ball, and be present for them. And you know, I enjoy it so much. I enjoy when I’m reading a book and I find an idea that the customer can apply immediately. I love it when I’m present and I can listen and I can hear things that they cannot hear themselves.
So by asking yourself these three questions (What do you want? What do they need? What are you willing to do to satisfy this relationship?), you are going to change your life and the life of your customers, of your partners, and of your employees. You’re going to change your business into a power for good. You’re going to help to change the economy into a heart-centred economy by putting people first. Profits will follow.
Be ALL in.
Photo by Arnaud Mesureur on Unsplash.