A Noble Entrepreneur?

Why can't I just be average? We all know entrepreneurs are not average. They are driven my an insatiable need to create and become. But a business owner must also have high moral values to truly succeed. A leader (entrepreneur, business-owner, etc) succeeds when he or she lives with integrity. 

One thought that really stuck out to me this week was the idea that we must trust others first if we want them to trust us. The example given was Amazon. They ship to customers for free, and accept returns for free--all based on complete trust in their customer's word--and they have been incredibly successful. We trust Amazon because we know they'll keep their word--because they treat us the same way.

We've had a few experiences where we returned things and weren't refunded correctly. My first thought has always been "This is Amazon, they'll make it right." And they always have!

This week, I applied this principle to my small cake business as I considered using cheaper materials to save money. Then I remembered what we learned this week about giving our best work to our customers. My business is profitable as it is, but it is tempting to cut corners to save money or make a little more. At the end of the day, I genuinely care about my customers. They trust me to produce a superior product for them and I take great pride if giving them my best effort--nothing less. There are times I've had to scrap a cake and start over because the quality wasn't great. I could have justified it by saying they wouldn't really notice, but I would not be true to my brand if I did that. Every single customer deserves the best quality I can produce.

Building a brand and building a business requires my customers to trust me. I can earn that trust my giving them my best work and honoring my word.