Eight years ago I would have laughed at myself for saying this…
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been anti-corporate.
I like straight talk, no double-speak, posturing, or fluff.
I prefer to shoot from the hip in most situations.
This is why establishing CORE VALUES in my business always seemed to embody everything I was against.
I would think of the hotel I worked at well over a decade ago.
And the vague, hollow nouns printed in their corporate handbook: passion, loyalty, innovation…
You’re telling me I need to be passionate about cleaning the rooms the morning after a hockey team’s victory party?
You’ll fire me if I’m not?
Yikes.
Fast-forward to sometime in 2019. Our team is growing faster than I can control.
We have people from all over the world, from all kinds of backgrounds.
Some of my colleagues have worked with me for upwards of seven years.
But I’ve had others who have left after a week… maybe two.
It got me thinking, “What are the common traits that our best, most successful people have?”
Then it hit me… THOSE are the corporate values that companies are trying to instill in their people.
The problem is that they go about it backward.
They say, “Here are our employees, What do we WANT them to be?”
Passionate, loyal, etc.
But if they’re not already those things, they never will be.
And that is why those values fell flat in that culture.
Now, bear with me. I know a lot of you aren’t hiring massive teams of people that you need to corral like livestock.
The point I want to make is that values start within you.
At Social Lite and Merchant Mastery, where we work with a ridiculous amount of eCom merchants, and marketers,
My team and I have pinpointed the values that make a merchant wildly successful.
Here they are:
Spirited:
This means you are Happily Relentless
Shout out to my colleague, Nta, who not only came up with this but defines it.
You have Radical Candour
You communicate with your customers excessively
You are agile
Patient
You Pursue Mastery
You are RESOURCEFUL
You are always learning and growing
You measure everything
You are a Tiger, not a Kitten when you hunt
When you hear me talk about Merchant-Market Fit, it is these values that I’m talking about.
It is a mindset.
When I have students that are struggling to make sales, frustrated, emailing me on Sundays about how a Klaviyo code snippet isn’t working for them…
Usually, the subject line is something like, “URGENT!!!! I’M ANGRY AND DISAPPOINTED”
This is the talk I have had with them.
This business changes every day.
You have to do complicated things.
Nothing works the first time.
Things break when you do get them working.
You will face roadblock after roadblock after roadblock.
Do you know who cares when you’re angry and disappointed with Facebook's Business Manager?
Definitely not Facebook.
In the end, it all comes back to you and your core values.
Be spirited, pursue mastery.
BOOKS THAT INSPIRED THIS EMAIL:
P.S. My list is by no means exhaustive when it comes to what values make an incredible merchant.
I’d love to hear what makes you and your team next level!