In 2010, I built a successful business from the ground up, and never once second guessed my decision in not using a business card to promote myself and my business.
Hard to believe right?
I’ve always been averse to business cards, frowning upon them as ‘labels’ that could never match or equal the experience of what it was like to ‘BE’ inside my Yoga & Personal Training Studio. The Studio was approximately 1750 sq feet of magical space guaranteed to draw you in with its clean hardwood floors and bare walls, leaving nothing to distract you from the cozy ambience of the soft lighting and music nestled inside the ceiling, that is, once you got over your fear or your ego (whichever was in the way) of stepping inside. Now, how could I have fit all of that onto a teeny card? Ah well, never mind, my husband and I have since relocated, so sadly, the studio was closed.
Now, please don’t misunderstand me. My aversion to owning a business card was simple, it just didn’t match the nature of my business. I do understand that my ‘aversion’ could be thought of as a ‘luxury’ and one that would not work for most businesses. I was fortunate I guess, to have owned the building the Studio was in, to have had an ideal location, and to have lived on a small island with an even smaller community of people willing to embrace the inner harmony and functional communication that Yoga induces for a healthy lifestyle. Fast forward to my current situation… Life in the big USA. Wow! I tell ya… when you think you’ve seen it all, think again!
Since relocating, I’ve taken it up a notch by branching off into Health & Life Coaching, and funnily enough, the topic of Business cards has come round again. Man oh Man was I ecstatic to hear Health Coach Institute’s take on it. “A Business Card and a Website do not equal a Successful Business” (Yes! It’s like they read my mind, lol). The point being that the focus should be on honing your skills, instead of jumping right in to having the shiniest cards and the best logos. ‘HOW it all looks on the outside and the value we put on other people’s opinions of ourselves, as a source of fulfillment and enrollment is truly frightening when you think about it.’
My husband uses Home Advisor to market his business, and it has been absolutely profitable for the business yes, and achieved exactly what we wanted in a short space of time, but using it has come with a loaded price tag, and I’m not speaking about their service cost either. It’s the loaded price tag of giving the customer the power to like or dislike your efforts using a 1-5 star rating system. This system of rating or reviewing a business doesn’t exist where we’re from. If you want a job done, you phone a friend or ask around and so it goes. But I guess, let me see if I get this right, with a wider range of service providers to choose from, this rating system is supposed to be beneficial and rewarding to both customer and business owner?
Which leads me to wonder, what happens when the customer who’s rating you are counting on, is just simply a completely miserable person on the inside, incapable of putting their miserableness aside to offer a simple ‘Thank You‘ at the end of the day? What does it take to satisfy someone like that? (Hmm, My mind switches to the scene in the nursery rhyme where the cow jumps over the moon…ok, …switch back now lol). I think no matter how qualified a person is, or how fabulous the outcome of the job at hand, someone who’s internally suffering with their emotions will NEVER give you a 5star rating… and it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the quality of your service.
Now try and get that point across to my husband, who prides himself with an impeccable integrity for being punctual, always cordial, and who doesn’t mind getting his own hands dirty on the job. I see his glow disappear when, on the odd occasion, he would read his weekly reviews, and see that 1 client out of 10 has given him a 4.8 star rating, with no explanation as to what they thought he didn’t accomplish to earn the full 5 stars! And umm, this is suppose to help business growth? So, I gather up my pom poms, and start my cheerleading spiel. But alas, I’m met with “You don’t get it”. And by golly, I DON’T!!!
My spiel goes like this…”Honey can you not see that perhaps that 4.8 rating says MORE about the client than it does about YOU?” (If you know him, you know he’s giving me ‘that look’, yup, the one where only one of his eyebrows raises). Hey, I’m sorry if I can’t wrap my mind around this system of value we place so much emphasis on. Okay, fair enough, perhaps my lack of understanding, comes from the fact that I didn’t have to depend on it for my business to be rated successful. Perhaps, I’m old school in saying I based my success on maintaining genuine relationships with every client.
I vaguely hear an old Kaiso song from my early childhood days playing in my mind, “Bring back the ole time days…Bring back them ole time ways… I know everything must change… But I still love the ole time days”.
So I guess, these are the current times we live in. A world we have created where LIFE is made to seem easier due to faster speeds and instant gratification. A world where we have managed to fill every moment of our waking hours, with so much visual stimulation, that we no longer ‘have time’ to stay in touch with ourselves. Which leads me to the other thing that gets my knickers in a twist, and that is the value we put on others ‘liking’ our posts on Social Media. That ‘need’ is deeply embedded into the same strain of instant gratification, or as I like to call it, ‘The Microwave Fix’, that I was referring to earlier.
When not enough people like our posts, do we really tell ourselves that too little ‘likes’ means we are not good enough?
Who are we BEING when we look to our worthiness in having more ‘likes’?
When you become dependent on people to build you up, do you realize that you are giving them that same power to break you down?
Seeking validation will keep you trapped!! Because if outside validation is your only source of nourishment, my friend, you will hunger for the rest of your life!
I’ve actually come to a conclusion which lays it it all out in the open, You see, to LIKE a post would require an ACTION, a physical gesture that let’s the other person know you ‘APPROVE’ of what they shared. To VIEW it only, almost borders on the non sexual version of voyeurism, a kind of surveillance where you the viewer retains the sole right of satisfaction off of what someone else has taken the time to share. That’s why the sharing of ‘stories’ captivates so many of us. I mean, who doesn’t love a good ‘story’ right? It’s disheartening to realize that this is how inglorious we have become.
What keeps us on that edge of ‘not wanting’ to show participation? Hmm…
I draw reference to this …’How we do one thing is How we do another’. It’s one of our Health Coaching paradigms that has amplified and sensitized my perception and understanding of this particular behavior in general. I equate a 5 star rating to a ‘like’, and for some people that allowance to show and give respect and appreciation comes naturally, a characteristic that emits honesty, freedom, vulnerability and a sense of self love and self respect. As one client wrote in her review, “5 stars just isn’t enough to express her gratitude’. And she’s absolutely CORRECT! So…to willfully hold yourself back from ‘participating’ will always undoubtedly reveal MORE about you and where you are in life, than you care or dare to think.
“The difference between who you are and who you want to be, is what you do”
The Butterfly Effect Lifestyle 