Business Lessons

Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, I have learned many business lessons in life. The discipline, values, and processes at different work environments have helped me shape this list to pass on to others in future generations, especially if you work in the gift or retail industry. No matter what, always remember your actions speak louder than your words. I remember my parent’s teaching me that even though you think your boss is not watching, he or she is, so pay attention to what you are doing. It matters.

1. You are Your Brand.

You cannot and should not please everyone. Create raving fans instead of having a bunch of lukewarm people like your product or service. Is your brand, elegant, fun, rustic, sentimental, life saving, etc? Be your brand daily and continually develop a strategy to grow it. “Never stop learning,” my parents said. I will forever treasure these business lessons in my Business Time Capsule, to pass on to my future children in life as they look for a company to start or work for.

2. Understand Your Customer.

You cannot and should not please everyone. Create raving fans instead of having a bunch of lukewarm people like your product or service. Is your brand, elegant, fun, rustic, sentimental, life saving, etc? Be your brand daily and continually develop a strategy to grow it. “Never stop learning,” my parents said. I will forever treasure these business lessons in my Business Time Capsule, to pass on to my future children in life as they look for a company to start or work for.

3. Treat Employees with Respect.

My father continually encouraged his employees to better their lives, encouraged making work fun, and helped them grow in many areas of their life. Make sure your employees share in your vision and know your systems or procedures, know the importance of customer service, and demonstrate it in knowledge and sales. Recognize, reward, and encourage positive progress.

4. Lead By Example.

Be the person, you want your employees to be. When you have a warm, friendly environment, your customers and employees feel it and it affects their work. Be consistent, inclusive, available, encouraging, fair, and passionate about your work. As a boss, go do your employees job for a week and learn their problems, issues with machines, people, etc. As your employees, manufacturers, customers, etc for feedback on how to make things better. Accept criticism in order to grow better. Think of the feedback as free market research that is very valuable.

5. Think Like a Customer. 

With so much social media now, it is easy to find out who your ideal customer is. If you do not know who you are selling to, you are wasting your time and money. That is a very important business lesson my parent’s taught me too. I even have secret board set up on our Pinterest account so that I can follow and learn what are key interests and articles that our ideal customer likes to look at, read, or buy. Also, always know who your competition is. How does their store, service, or product compare to yours in price, selection, ease of access and use, cleanliness, attractiveness, etc? Shop your customer’s store and listen to what their customers are saying.

These business lessons can go on and on, which is why in our next few blogs we will continue to discuss them. What are some business lessons you have learned in life? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie