I love the expression, “do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” I just was reminded about that expression yesterday while watching an interview with DJ and hip-hop promoter Ed Lover from Atlanta. He was being featured on the Oprah Network’s “Where are they now” show.
Can you imagine doing what you love? Letting your joy guide you as opposed to all the other things we need to evaluate as we get into business or really work on our businesses?
What would it look like if joy and love and passion were your core values that led what you did in your business?
One of the coolest case studies I have been exposed to in my business life was from expert marketing mind Tad Hargrave. I read this case study several years ago, so the links I have to it may be a bit old!
Tad owns a marketing consultancy practice that’s changing lives. He works predominantly with business owners in the healing arts and green business industries. He talks about designing your business to be an expression of love and joy.
At first as I read his article and musings, I thought to myself, “Yes, but my parents used to say, ‘Nose to the grindstone, no pain no gain…if you work hard you’ll get results.’”
Then as I continue to read, what Tad is talking about begins to settle in…this is truly what our work must be about, if we’re really going to succeed.
Work, or our businesses, must be an expression of our passion, joy and love. The questions now become: How do we make that happen? How do we design our business so that it can be about joy, passion and love? How can we create a buying experience for our customers where that is the feeling we are orchestrating each day?
Here’s an example of how being in business can be an expression of joy. It’s the story of Dr. Paddi Lund. If you go onto his website you will read about the radical changes he made to his dental practice so that going to work, and the patient experience, became all about joy. You will also read about his success secrets:
“Dr. Patti Lund is The Crazy Australian Dentist!
Crazy? Because to improve his sales and begin to love his business he took these bold moves:
- Pulled down all his signs and locked his front door,
- Took his name out of the phone book,
- “Fired” more than half his customers,
- Sawed up his reception desk and installed a Cappuccino Machine instead!
- Now bakes fresh dental buns for clients, and
- Serves 30+ varieties of tea in fine bone china.
Yet now also …
- Only accepts new clients ‘By Invitation’
- Works 23hrs/wk. & earns 2½ times the income
- Loves going to work & is happy!
Dr. Paddi Lund has completely redefined the customer experience, successful sales techniques and referral marketing. Read and hear all about how Paddi did it – including step-by-step how you, too, can improve sales and, like Paddi, mix business, happiness and profits!” Paddi wrote the book, “Building the Happiness-Centered Business”. It’s a paradigm shift. It’s belief altering…but it works.
It has caught the eye of many expert business minds including Jay Abraham, perhaps one of the leading marketing minds in business today. Jay is a well-respected Californian marketing guru and head of Abraham Publishing. This is what he wrote about Paddi Lund:
“A lot of people talk about paradigm shifting, changing our belief systems, etc. But this man is the definitive expert on the subject. If happiness, liberation control and financial security are important to you, study these books. They will change the entire way you look at your life, business and value systems.
I’ve always been impressed with Paddi, and his story is a model I’ve used to demonstrate three different ethos: 1) Revering your value to yourself and the value that you bring to others. 2) The power of playing life by your own game and your own rules. 3) Having a hell of a lot of fun in the process.
I admire what Paddi has done with his life. I admire what he is trying to do to help others.” (Abraham, Jay. “Business Experts Give Their Acclaim.” Web, 7 February, 2012 <http://www.paddilund.com/content/view.asp?name=DrPaddiLund_WhatOthersSayAboutPaddi#JayAbraham>.)
What about other examples of joy at work? Tony Hsieh, of the online clothing retail store Zappos, has created a whole culture on Delivering Happiness. His book, philosophy and website (and now a movement) encourage other business owners to incorporate a higher level of customer care and satisfaction into their business. Delivering happiness to customers and employees really becomes the focus.
If this notion of delivering happiness gives you meaning and I know I love the concept, then log onto www.deliveringhappiness.com to learn how your venture can be a business that really walks the talk on customer service excellence!
Other examples include retail stores like the Container Store or Zanes Cycles, and Mitchell Richards clothing.
They all bring core values like love, empowering employees to serve their customers to the highest degree, giving their sales team latitude to do what it takes to deliver an excellent customer experience and increase engagement with consumers.
But behind that experience is a company where values, like love, joy, community, employee empowerment and engagement all exist.
How do you bring joy and passion to work? Moving forward how will you incorporate these key core values into what you do?
