Reputation is Currency to Your Bussiness’ Success
A carefully manicured garden requires patience, knowledge and creativity. Creativity is the engine to cultivate functionality and appearance, what others see. Without the creative element, there won’t be enough to distinguish your garden from your neighbors or other gardens in your community. Knowledge is a level of proficiency we gain through hands on practice and doing a lot of research. It may not be obvious at the start of the project however; as the design takes shape, all the little inconsistencies become apparent. Knowledge, whether it is acquired by hands on trial and error or by using theory learned in school, is reflected as, “progress is made”. Patience may be the most important ingredient. A great idea is only an idea unless action is taken consistently and with purpose. Without patience, all of the innovations we laud would languish in the waste bin of “almost, not quite”.
A garden is a visual representation of a reputation. In the 21st century technology changed the primary stimulus to visual. An image today is as powerful as a poem or as monumental as a practical mathematics formula as in generations past. The reputation of any professional is a garden. It is tended to, nurtured and shared with the masses. A sterling reputation is not for sale. We can buy a business with a lean balance sheet and growing profits. What we can’t buy is the hard work the founders put into developing the brand and the reputation they created.
On the other hand, high reputation and success do not make a simple arithmetic equation. One cannot simply do, ”x”, “y” “z” and equal a reputation to the envy of the competition. It is earned, it is a front of mind intention a professional operates with every day for months, years and often decades. If you are in the early years building your empire, lament not.
Think of it as a timeline, the first day of high school or university. On day one, you may have a friend or two, be familiar with the campus because your big sister is a senior this year. As your first-year winds down, you know your teachers, mastered the quickest route form classroom to classroom. By the end of your senior year, you know most of the faculty, their quirks, inside information about classmates, maybe their parents too.
Now you are proving your learned skills in school and maybe a previous employer or two, makes for a foundation to strike out on your own. The reputation building already started. You have a handful of contacts in your chosen industry, former classmates, and teachers who are excited for you to blaze your own path. You earned their admiration through your patience, creativity, willingness to participate, and being helpful. These attributes are the ingredients to a valued reputation.
For those who have years of experience in their chosen profession and feel like they don’t have a solid reputation, now is the time to evaluate:
Are you in the right career for you? Your reputation is influenced by your attitude at work. If you are a grumpy sort, odds are you aren’t happy because the work you do is not what you are meant to do. It’s alright to not know what the right fit is. It can take many career changes and life experiences to figure it out.
For those who are snarky, as you read this and think “I didn’t choose this job, I had to take it”, No you didn’t, you accepted the job. If this is your mindset, you may be way behind developing a quality reputation. Taking responsibility for your choices in life is a basic building block for one’s reputation. Leading us to the next item to evaluate.
What do you enjoy? Keep it simple. What gets you in a positive mood? Whatever it is, there is a career you can make of it. For some, our personal interests don’t translate to a dream job because doing it to earn a living or being immersed in it day in and day out would ruin it for you, that’s an important realization to help you make a smart choice.
Does the size of the paycheck matter? Some are motivated by dollar signs, some by the work you do and others it is something entirely different. Whatever your motivation, accept it. Use it as a basis for the next career move. If a big paycheck makes you warm and fuzzy, go for it. If the mission of your career is more important, go for it. Interestingly, many people who earn a large sum of money feel negative emotions about their success, whether it is guilt or personal experiences with people automatically assuming a big bank account means any number of negative impressions of you. It is that person’s experiences in life or a lack of knowledge about how money works. You can always choose to support important causes or help these same people who judge you in a positive way.
Does your career impact personal relationships in a negative way? For the majority of our lives we roughly spend a third of our day working. For those working more hours we will get to you shortly. Another third sleeping and the third, third doing whatever we choose to do. A quick story from my youth, my father was a workaholic, business owner. For the first ten years building his business he took very little time off causing a lot of stress, and when he had a bad day at the office he brought it home for us to share in his misery. He did a lot of things right as a parent however; a lesson I learned at a young age: leave your work at work. It may not be easy to do. We all need to vent yet there is a difference between venting and manifesting your frustrations conjured up at work and allowing them to boil over after hours. If your family is suffering with you, unnecessarily and you recognize it, choose to change, consciously. Your loved ones will notice and appreciate you for it. Friends and family are the most influential group to cultivate your reputation.
Now for those who scoff at the idea of an 8-hour work day, I applaud you for your commitment to your career. The same rules apply. If you thrive on 4 hours sleep a night and thrive binge working by neon light, that’s your choice. It does not always equal happiness or a strong reputation. If it isn’t getting in the way of personal relationships, builds your circle of influence and you find satisfaction with your chosen occupation then you are well on your way to a golden reputation.
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