What Are Your Core Values?

I really want to explain to you my thoughts on core values. Everybody says, “I have my core values. I know what they are.” But recently what I’ve found is that maybe that’s not entirely true. Then my brain starts spinning, thinking, “Holy Cow! If you don’t know what your core values are and how they’re affecting your business, you’re losing money and your Brand.” If you don’t understand how your values are affecting you, you are losing money. That’s the bottom line.

Your Brand absolutely can’t work for you the way it’s supposed to if you don’t understand how your core values are affecting you. If you can’t define them, if you can’t rank them, and if you can’t really put them to work for you, think of how much money you’re losing! So today I want to share with you a couple different ways that you can define your core values, understand those core values, and make money that way.

What are core values?

Your core values are the things that you hold most dear. If everything else goes to hell in a hand basket, these things will still guide your behavior. You you will let go of everything else in the world to keep these safe and to maintain their integrity because they are precious. I don’t care what your widget is, what your service, your product, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Your core values as a person will absolutely affect the way you do business. They affect your behavior and they drive your business. That’s what core values do.

As you get clear about what your core values are, the next logical step is to say, “Wow, if I get more clear about these things, it will affect my business more, and I will make more money.” Your core values will guide your decisions, and they will help you make every decision faster. If you have ever walked away from what you considered an opportunity and said, “Well, that’s just not my thing.” If you ever walked away because something didn’t feel right or didn’t seem like a good decision, I would almost guarantee you, that it’s based on a core value. Something’s out of alignment, or contrary to what you find important.

Define your core values

There are two things I want you to do with your core values that will help you make more money. First, define them. Identify them. That seems really straightforward. However, just in the last two weeks, I’ve talked to people who were wondering, “How do I figure that out?” It’s really easy to say, “Well, integrity’s one of my core values.” For me, a sense of humor is one of my core values. I absolutely love to laugh. I love to work with people who appreciate my sense of humor and who have a sense of humor, because life is too short not to laugh. Life is too short not to have joy and giggle all the time. It’s incredibly important to me, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. 

Sometimes it’s a little hard to figure out exactly what’s driving you. So take a minute right now and think of the last five decisions you’ve made. And I’m not talking what shoes to wear (although, sometimes that affects that). I’m talking larger decisions. Whether that’s business or personal, take a minute and just look back at the five most recent decisions you’ve made. It could be an advertisement opportunity, an event where you wanted to go play, a new client you were going to take on, someone you were going to hire, whatever that looks like. This could be more personal. Sometimes this is about a vacation you’re going to go on. This is about money you’re investing. Think of those last five. Why did you make the decision you made? Why was that important? 

Let’s see if I can give you an example. Maybe it’ll help. I went to California on vacation a couple weeks ago. I went out with my family, my husband’s family, and my immediate family. It was fabulous, it was wonderful. It cost a chunk of change, because that’s what vacations do. Especially if you’re leaving the state and especially if you’re going to go for a few days. 

So why would I have made that decision? Well, I wanted to spend time with my family. I wanted to be able to walk away from the obligations and the day-to-day crazy, dive deep into relaxation, and really have an experience. It’s not just days away, but an experience, right? Okay, well why is that important? Why did I want to do that? Well, because my family’s important. Why? Because I want to feel loved. I want to feel accepted. I want to create memories for my daughter that are going to last forever. Well, why is that important?

That’s where it gets down to one of my basic core values. One of my really deep, core values is love, and creating value for everyone with whom I’m interacting. Whether that’s in my business or personal life, I want to make sure that my clients get the absolute most value they possibly can out of their time with me. When I’m at “work”, when I’m with a client, I am 100% with them. There are no distractions or outside stuff. It’s just me and my client having a conversation, working through their Brand. That’s what I want to create for them.

The same goes with my personal life. If I’m going to be with my family, with my husband, with my friends, or with my in-laws, I want to make sure that I’m totally present. I want to create the fabulous relationship with them. I want to make sure they have an amazing experience and create memories that will last forever that are positive memories. 

Looking at that most recent experience helps me dive into one of my core values, which is love and value. Look at your decisions that you’ve made over the last two weeks and see what is driving you to make those decisions. Those are your core values. They absolutely affect everything you do, every single day. If you have a big decision, if you make a pro and con list, if you research it. Those pros and cons are driven by your core values. 

Here’s what’s really cool about that with your business. If I know that one of my core values is creating an amazing experience and being very present, I get to put that into every single conversation I have. Whether I’m calling a client on the phone, making a sales call, or at an event, I know that my behavior is going to be, “It’s just you and me. We’re this conversation.” I’m not looking over your shoulder to see what’s next, who’s next. Have you ever done that at a networking event? You’re trying to talk to somebody and they’re like, “Oh yeah, yeah, okay, excuse me.” They’re looking over your shoulder for who else is in the room. They’re looking for what other conversation they could have, because even though yours could be great, they’re looking for something else, something more. Someone else.

If this resonating at all, take an opportunity the next time you’re at a networking event to just look right in their eyeballs and engage. It doesn’t have to be a 10 minute, now you’re lovey best friends conversation. But while you’re in the conversation, be in the conversation. Be present. Be there. Create that experience for your client, for your colleague, and for your potential client. 

Rank your core values

The second thing I would suggest that you do is you rank your core values. I know those of you who’ve heard me speak before, have heard me talk about this. There are things that are just good ideas, and things that are truly a core value. And those things will absolutely affect the decisions that you make.

Your core values will affect whether you’re going to hire someone, if you’re going to outsource something, or you’re going to actually hire staff or an employee. Being aware of what your core values are, even having them in writing, can help you own up to that so that when you’re going to hire someone, or you’re going to take on a new client, you can look at that and go, “They’re completely in alignment with what I believe. Their core values align with mine. This is going to be a good fit.” We will figure out the training, we will figure out the programming, the processes, the systems, to make them part of the team, but the core values are already there. 

For example, I was working with a lady the other day who had tried to go on vacation, because one of her core values is family. She wanted to have a couple of days away from the crazy to create memories with her kids. What happened instead is she took on a new client. She took on a new client, one of those people who she had already said no to and that she had already determined wasn’t her ideal client. She had analyzed the potential relationship and said, “Wow, this is how I work. But this is how he wants me to work. They are not compatible. I don’t care how much money it is. These are not compatible, I’m done.” It was a no. 

But over the weekend, while she was on vacation, while she was trying to relax and just let everything else go, he called again and again and again. So she gave in. She said yes, took on this new client that was super high-maintenance, and that was bugging her on her vacation. Even though she had said, “I’ll be back in three days, we will handle this in three days,” he continued to bother with email and phone calls. He even tried to go around her to try to get one of her colleagues to take on the job. 

What ended up happening is, now, she’s going to make a bunch of money. I asked her, “Is it worth it? Is the cash value worth it?” Without hesitation, she said, “No. Absolutely not. Because then my kids got to be at the pool without me. They got to watch Mom work instead of taking time with them. Every single phone call I take from this guy now, I cringe. I curse his name, I get cranky.” It’s not because he’s a bad guy or because it’s a bad thing, but because it’s completely out of alignment. 

Her core value of family is above her core value of money. Money is a perfectly fine value, by the way, friends. Money will move you towards your vision. But her core value of family is higher-ranked in her heart and soul and in her business. She does her business realizing that family comes first. But she let those values flip and it was miserable. It’s been a week now. She’s still testy about it. She’s still a little cranky about it, because she didn’t honor her self-identified core value.

If she had instead stuck to her guns and said, “You know what? This is my family time”, then when she came back, she could serve this client better. And maybe, he would be gone. Here’s the other part of that. He may have moved on. But if they’re not for you, quit trying to make them fit. This is a square peg/round hole situation. Stop it! It’s a miserable way to do business. Even though you will cash a check, it will be misery earning it. 

All this is to say the first challenge is to identify and be super honest with yourself about what your core values are. If you don’t know how to identify them, look at your past decisions. Then when you have identified them, rank them. Because it’s going to help you when you take up clients, it’s going to help you when you outsource things, it’s going to help every single decision you make when you are more clear about this. When you stick with your core values, you will make more money, you will truly get to work with people that excite you instead of people that make you cringe, and you will get to enjoy the genuine thrill of getting paid to do what you love to do instead of $20 the hard way. 

I just wanted to make sure you were super clear about that. That’s how you get to make more money just by identifying your core values and being super clear about them. If you have any questions about that, if you just need somebody to ask the right questions to get you there, I would love to support you in that. You can always go to my website, YourBrandByDesign.com/duet. Find a time on my calendar that works perfectly for your schedule and we’ll have a quick conversation about it. 

It’s one of those things where you can’t see your own eyebrow. Sometimes you just need some outside professional expertise to look at it from the outside and say, “Wow, this is how I see it. What do you think?”, and literally get you thinking from an outside perspective to dive in deeper, and truly make more money. This is where your RockStar Brand starts, is with your core values. What’s important to you? How is your business taking you toward your vision? How are you creating that ultimate goal and vision for yourself? That’s what this is all about. 

It is time to make money. It is time to get clear about your RockStar Brand. It’s time to be doing it the fun way. The fun, easy, this is what you get to do for a living kind of a thing. So if you have any questions about that, let’s have a conversation. I also want to invite you to the Monetize Your Message event on February 26th event. There are still spots available! This is how to build your Brand. Not only the strategy, but then the implementation and how you close those sales, how you engage and initiate and then close those sale conversations. 

I am working with Lark Galley and Kristy Honsvick. We are creating this event. You can go to YourBrandByDesign.com/message to learn more. Claim your spot and we’ll see you on the 26th. It’s going to be amazing! It’s a full day of really getting clear about how everything that is you gets to make you money. Doing what you love to do is business the easy fun way. So I can’t wait to see you there. If you have any questions, just let me know. 

Until we talk next, rock on!