Build A Better Business

I will go ahead and let you know up front that this post is not about the “how” of building a better business as we write about the “how” in dozens of other posts. Rather this is a call to arms so to speak, and my attempt to convince you, if you are not already, that the world needs entrepreneurs to not just build businesses but to build them better than we ever have.

After all, businesses are at the heart of everything we do, everything we eat, the cars we drive, the vacations we take, the desks we sit at, the homes we live in, the clothes on our back, and everything in between. With that in mind, let me ask you a question; “how satisfied are you with the food you eat, the service you get from the plumber who fixed your leaky sink, or the last show you watched?”

Most of the people you will meet in your life will be selling you a product or service, a part of the delivery of that product or service, or providing customer support, for a company, that is owned by a person, who is directly responsible for the quality of that interaction.

So again, how satisfied are you with your experience last time you got your oil changed, bought groceries, hired an electrician, tried on a pair of shoes, or bought something online?

Chances are if you look back over a week of personal transactions you can point to at least one experience that was less than satisfactory. Again, there are humans responsible for the quality of that interaction and if they are not doing everything they can to ensure your experience with that company is an awesome one, they need to be replaced. Period.

I get it, we are humans after all and we are not perfect, and we have bad days and those bad days can reflect poorly on ourselves and the companies we work for, but that does not mean we are excused from not doing what we are getting paid to do. If something goes wrong in a transaction, there are ways to make it right, and any business worth its weight will do everything it can to rectify the situation.

Now again, I am not here to get into the details of how to build a better business, I am here to ask that you keep those words at the core of your entrepreneurial journey. If you are anything like me you have experienced your share of terrible interactions with businesses and people who work for those businesses.

Well, I think we owe it to ourselves, to each other, and to the very foundation on which the economy was built to build better businesses.

Building better businesses require that the entrepreneurs behind these businesses build with integrity, intention, and a willingness to grow personally and professionally. It is not rocket science nor should the absence of these things just be accepted.

If you have a bad experience at a company, and I mean a genuinely bad experience, don’t be nit-picky, you should stop spending money with them, talk to the staff or manager about your experience, and if they do nothing to right the wrong, hit them where it hurts. Leave a negative review, tell your friends about the experience and ask if they know of a better company.

It will take time, but if the complaints keep rolling in, and the company does not correct course, the ship will sink. And we need these ships to sink so that the new ones that are ready to replace these companies have a chance to take over.

It is often companies that have been around too long that lose sight of what it really means to be a business that was designed to solve a problem and make people’s lives better. I get it, we all lose sight of what is important from time to time, but we all get nudges to get back on track. If we ignore them, we get the backhand from the universe to wake us from our slumber. If that is ignored we are in for a rude awakening.

So if you are building a business or want to build a business, I beg you to give it your all and build a better business. It will most certainly increase your odds of survival, increase your satisfaction, increase your employee retention, and make you more successful.

I think it is pretty simple actually and something that every entrepreneur should take to heart. If you want to succeed in the world of business building and entrepreneurship, you need to make sure that the business you build is better than the competition.

I don’t know about you, but I constantly choose to spend my money with companies that are oftentimes more expensive solely based on the fact that I get a better experience, deal with less or no issues,  and get better customer support.

This is the evolution of economics, a natural selection process that plays out every day.

Learn from the mistakes of the companies that deliver sub-par experiences, take what you can from the amazing customer experiences you have had, and build your business better than those that came before you.

As someone who wants to see you succeed, I ask you to take this to heart, build a business that you, your family, your community, your employees can be proud of. One that your customers tell their friends about, one that over-delivers on your promise to make their lives easier in whatever way you do.