Love & Business

This month of June I would like to share with you on the theme of love and relationships in the business context; It has been said that love is a good feeling however I would like to note that love is a good conscious choice. Often times when we think about love, we think about family and intimate relationships but not business. If love is a way of being/ living then love has a big role to play in the business arena.

‘Love is not for the faint of heart’

To love and be loved is a universal need that motivates everything we do in life. Love is the essence of living and without love we die eventually. We might continue to live physically but we would have lost the sense of true living. What good is it to live a life that had no life? The biggest motivator in life is to find love and acceptance, how we do this will vary from person to person. As much as love is a basic human need, it is as strong as death and its fires are unquenchable. Once you have tasted true love, you can never settle for anything less.

Business is a field of passion and conquest; it is about survival for the fittest. We quickly forget the good feeling and focus on the most logical approaches. We pursue to overtake and work so hard to stay on top of the game. The career ladder is often marred with malice, contention, jealousy and all manner of sabotaging. Often times we are advised to keep love out of the business matrix if we are to succeed at it. But what is passion without love?

The more we love, the more we give and the more we give, the more we can expect to receive. The law of reciprocity will ensure a steady supply of all that we give back into our lives often times in multiplied dimensions. Business is about making profits and this depends on the nature of relationships that we build. Business success hinges on the power of networks and connectedness. How we treat people greatly determines how they will respond to what we have to offer them. We buy into people not products, so at the end of the day it’s all about people and relationships no matter what kind of business we do.

The heart of business is being able to adequately meet the needs of others (clients) in a way that earns you a living (profits). True service that comes from the heart must be married with love, zeal and commitment not just to the service but to the people who benefit from that service. Anything we do from the heart is bound to produce outstanding results. The heart is the central government of our emotions, the head quarter for feelings and the warehouse for lasting relationships.

In simple terms, to do business means loving people. Looking beyond what you can get from them to seek to better their lives with whatever service or product that you offer. Client satisfaction goes beyond what we do to how and why we do what we do. The game changer in business is marring your passion with love for the people you seek to serve in an unwavering commitment to offer the best and nothing less. When you bring love to your business, with it comes excellence, commitment, high quality and exceptionality. Love will unlock the wealth of potential and opportunities for your business.

Every business has two major types of clients; the internal who are the staff and the external clients. There is a tendency to focus on the external clients at the cost of the internal clients. When you focus on meeting the needs of your internal clients, they will by default take care of the external clients and the reverse is true. The first recipients of your love as a leader or entrepreneur are the people you work with and those that work for you. Love your team unconditionally and they pour the same amount of love in the work that they do.

Bring the family concept to work and see the difference that it will make in your business. Love each of your team members like your own and they will in turn serve you like their own. When you go the extra mile, you set the pace and record for others to emulate and do the same. Remember the harvest of your labour may not be instant but it worth every effort.

Love yourself, love your job, love your team and the love will be contagious among your clients.