
Your Business Has a Story to Tell Make Sure It’s the Right One
There is a well-known baseball themed movie titled Field of Dreams, if you haven’t seen it, you should, soon. A famous line that anyone who has seen the movie could quickly quote is “If you build it, they will come.” That quote has a lot of emotional weight to it in the movie, and you just can’t forget it. That line tells a story in itself. It is tied to having faith in what you do and that if it matters to you it will surely matter to others.
Deciding to become an entrepreneur requires that kind of faith. You can’t have a business without customers. Building a company or a product to launch is depending on the fact that what matters to you will surely matter to others. That when you put out the “Open” sign in your window, there will be people, hopefully lots of people that will walk through your door ready to hand you their hard earned money to buy what service or product you are offering. The same goes for launching an online website or pitching your product to retailers. There is a faith that this thing you are putting your heart, time, and life into is going to amount to something because “If you build it, they will come.”
I myself have been in that position many times, actually writing this article questions that kind of faith. If I write this, will people read it? Having the type of faith that entrepreneurs must take on becomes “If I write this, it will be read.”
I’ve opened up several businesses and each one I started was not because I had a one of kind idea, but because I thought there was a better way of doing things and that I was the person to do it. It takes guts to think that way, to commit, and try to reshape a market or industry. It also takes guts to come up with a unique idea and believe others will see the advantage of it existing. Being brave enough to step into the arena and perform as an entrepreneur must requires passion.
You have to have passion for what you are going to offer whether it is a new way of doing things or a newly invented product. Passion for the end product is where any business should sprout into existence. It is the passion that will keep you focused and committed no matter how hard it gets, and launching a successful business is definitely hard. If you do it for the money you have already failed. If you do it to gain fame you have already failed. You have to have passion for the business itself, the product, the service, the actual thing you are selling, and for what change, advantage, or experience it will offer others.
You have to have the passion and then you have to have faith that what you will build will matter to others.
You’ve got the passion, you can’t imagine this isn’t something the world needs, or your corner of the world needs, so you put your all into this idea and hope that “If you build it, they will come.”
Yet, not everyone does care at first and sometimes you build it and no one comes. That is where you learn your greatest lessons as an entrepreneur.
When what you have done hasn’t translated into a successful project, you can do two things. Of course you can decide that everyone is stupid for missing out on such a great service or product and it is their fault for not recognizing such an awesome opportunity and walk away. Another thing you could do is figure out how you failed to translate your passion for your product or service into the total package you are presenting to customers.
When you launch a business, a product, or a service you should look at it as if it is a photo. If you looked at that photo taken at a moment in time what do you see? Can you see the story in the picture? Does the photo tell the story of the passion for the what, who, why, where, and how your business will serve others? It should, or it should at least create curiosity surrounding those questions.
If your business has been around awhile, you need to ask the same thing. Does your logo, color scheme, motto, branding efforts, building façade, marketing, and all that is your business still portray the passion for what you offer? Is it telling the world that this matters? This business matters, this service matters, this product matters?
Tell your story in your business. Stories matter and you are constantly telling your story. You tell it every day in social media, you tell it when someone walks through your brick and mortar store or office, when someone views your website, when they get answers to questions over the phone, when they see your logo or your business sign. When a customer meets your business, product, or service face to face they are told your story.
Does your story show the passion you have for your business, your idea, your product or service? You may have lost that message along the way if your business is older. You may need to tell it a new way if in building a new business it isn’t growing. You may be trying to look big when you are small or established when you are new and in doing so missing the opportunity to tell your story with passion.
Make sure you aren’t telling someone else’s story, but your own.
If you have the passion, if you tell your story honestly and with emotion, if you connect with your potential customers, they will hear you. Let the passion that built your business be heard in the story you tell every day. Then if you build it, they will come, and they will tell others, and they will come, too. Make it happen.
Thank you for reading — it means a lot to me. I appreciate your sharing as well. Please follow me on Medium, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn — I’d love to connect and be a part of your network team. On social media I share my own articles, but also those that I find helpful and relevant to business, success, entrepreneurship, leadership, community enhancement, and personal development. You can find out more about me at SherryHBlue.com.
