Good Soil - Uncover Your Core Values
Be sure to learn about crafting your Mission and Vision statement in this blog post.
Thrive Belief (consider this):
Grounding Statements (vision, mission, core values) are the “good soil” in which every seed is planted.
Thrive Action (do this):
Uncover the core values for your brand. Establish your business & working hours for yourself and your brand.
Step by step:
Answer these questions:
1. What are non-negotiables in your life and business? What is important to you and your team? What are you willing to lose money, relationships, or opportunities over?
2. How do you want your brand to relate to those around you (team, partners, investors, stakeholders, clients/students/audience, industry, family, etc.)
What culture are you building? How are you shaping the larger culture? What conversations is your brand involved in? What are you adding to those conversations?
What are your natural rhythms (when are you most/least creative?, most/least productive?, have the most/least focused time?, etc.)
Research the core values of a few brands you admire.
Note how those values are in play and how they align with the vision and mission.
Use that, along with your answers to the questions above, to help you craft or revise your own core values.
Expert tips:
If you have partners or other managing stakeholders, be sure to uncover these values collectively so everyone is on the same page.
Be sure to write your core values out in the same place you noted your vision and mission. This should be a place that is easiest and repeatable for you. (DO NOT rely on your memory!)
If this is your first time crafting core values, limit yourself to 3 - 5 to start. (anything more quickly becomes tougher to embody and infuse into the brand.)
Don’t settle on vague or overused values (loyalty, hard work, fun, etc.) Focus on being clear and authentic to what truly describes what is most important to you and your brand. Lean into what is unique about what you do, how you do it, who you do it with, and who you do it for.
Have the core values join your vision and mission in an area you can revisit them everyday.
a few questions that may come up
Difference between business hours and working hours:
Access: business hours dictate when you are “open for business” (clients/students/customers can access you and/or your team. This is when you would have meetings, sell your products/services to customers, etc.) This is when you are working ‘in’ your business. Working hours describe when you are working ‘on’ the business but not accessible. (This is when you are doing web updates, creating plans and strategies, etc. It’s typically the work you do in the early mornings & late at night.)
Application: The business hours affect everyone who works in service of the business along with the clients and partners who enjoy the products and services. Working hours are unique to you and will be personally established by every person who is in service of the business (for the most part).* Employees may have time that they are expected to work on business tasks before or after the official business hours. Non-employees establish their own hours.
Do I need both business and working hours?
The short answer is yes. Entrepreneurship has no chill! If you don’t tell your time where to go, entrepreneurship will claim it all. In the interest of building a sustainable business (i.e. no burnout), we need to decide when we will work IN the business as well as when we will work ON the business.
What if I need additional support in uncovering my core values?
You are welcome to book a free discovery call with me for general guidance and ask about purchasing a Thrive Strategy session to get into specifics. If you have not already, be sure to gain deeper insight by listening to the Thrive Support podcast and following me on social @thrivebusinesssupport.
Until next time,
Plant fruitfully!
note: Although AI is a helpful tool, it has not been used to help write, formulate, or enhance this article. All concepts, typos, and grammatical errors are our own. ;)
