Your Business Values in Action

Welcome to Being Boss, a podcast for creatives, business owners and entrepreneurs who want to take control of their work and live life on their own terms. I'm your host Emily Thompson. And in this episode I'm joined by my podcast pal Corey Winter, to talk about how and where to use your business values from website copy to employee onboarding. You can find all the tools, books and links we reference on the show notes at www.beingboss.club. And if you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe to the show and share us with a friend.

Emily Thompson 0:31

Whether you're a full time boss or dabbling in a side hustle learning from those who have already been there done that is a powerful way to give you a leg up on your own journey. To help you gather those lessons and inspiration que up an episode of the Side Hustle Pro podcast hosted by Nicaila Matthews Okome brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. The audio destination for business professionals. Join host Nicaila to learn actionable strategies to start small and get going wherever and whoever you are, as she interviews inspiring black women entrepreneurs, like Ashley Reynolds in episode number 309. And a conversation about how Ashley launched and grew the popular stationery brand Cloth and Paper, a special one for all of you planner loving bosses out there. Listen to Side Hustle Pro wherever you get your podcasts.

Emily Thompson 1:28

Corey. Welcome back to this show that you edit.

Corey Winter 1:32

Yes, I'm so happy to be here and live. We're recording live.

Emily Thompson 1:38

We are recording live,

Corey Winter 1:39

This is a bad idea.

Emily Thompson 1:41

This is a great idea. I'm so excited about it. So for everyone listening to this podcast, as a podcast later, we have decided to try or not try to do live podcast recording again, something that we used to do back in the day quite a bit. You can actually I think go on to YouTube even and go find the being boss channel, I think you'll find a couple of old like live recordings in that space. Maybe you have to do some searching around, but you can watch our faces while we talk and do the thing. We are doing. We're not going to do the recording the video recording for this one on YouTube. But members of the Being Boss Clubhouse are here live with us watching our faces. We're actually using a piece of software for the very first time and when Cory and I initially showed up, I was like eating and like dancing around because this piece of software has a soundboard and there was clapping and cheering happening. And then I realized I might be being watched right now. And then I found out that I wasn't.

Corey Winter 2:47

Yeah, yeah, that was supposed to be a waiting room. But I guess that wasn't turned on. So everyone's just showing up. So cool.

Emily Thompson 2:54

It's a whole thing.

Corey Winter 2:55

Glad you're here, glad you're here.

Emily Thompson 2:55

So anyway. Right very excited to have our Clubhouse members here live with us as we have this conversation today. And if anyone ever wants to come watch our shenanigans, because goodness knows what's going to be cut from the show. You're welcome to join the Being Boss Clubhouse and join us for our next recording, live recording. We plan on doing this every month at least while we enjoy doing it, and are excited to be here with some of our favorite bosses today. I'm also excited about this conversation, in the community. We are you know have been operating from this place of this theme of values. I think that was our January theme. And we're here to talk about that. In this live recording today. We talk very sort of top level about values on the regular right, like what are your values, your personal values, your business values, if you want to, you can go to beingboss.club/values. And you'll find a whole page of resources that we've built over the years. There are I think there's a worksheet, there's lists of words, there's a quiz to help you sort of start narrowing in on your values. And there's also a long list of podcasts because it is very much so just a part of what it is that we show up here and do. And so we wanted to come to this episode today to get a little more practical, right to dive into what it is that you actually do with your values once you have them. So we're here to talk about values today. You excited about this.

Emily Thompson 2:56

So I found it curious that you invited me to do this episode with you. Because I don't have values I'm just kidding.

Emily Thompson 3:02

Morals and values aren't the same thing, Corey.

Emily Thompson 3:05

No, I'm curious to see where this conversation is gonna go. Where are we starting?

Emily Thompson 4:49

Usually I'd start with what are your values we're gonna skip over all of them. My assumption here especially with everyone live in the audience, if you're in the Clubhouse, you have access to CEO Day Kit you've done the exercise. You've heard the shows like, ideally, you know what your values are. And if you're listening this podcast later, if you don't know, go figure it out. There's an exercise in the Being Boss book, beingboss.club/values, there's so many resources for you to figure out what your values are. And your values being these defining sort of characteristics of you or your businesses and things that are most important. They guide everything that you're doing, or they should guide everything that you're doing.

Corey Winter 5:28

So to kick this conversation off, and I'm putting you on the spot, sorry!

Emily Thompson 5:32

Sure.

Corey Winter 5:32

What are the values that are popping out to you personally, right now, Emily?

Emily Thompson 5:36

Well, I have some like, over I do have, like personal values that are very much so I think just define who I am, then creativity, adventure, and freedom. Those are like, those are my three, if you look at me, and what I do, there is an essence of all of those things in it because they define who I am. But I do think that there are, I think, they come to you as you like, navigate your way through life. They, they are definitely defined and specific seasons as well. One that's been coming up for me over the past couple of years, actually, there's two of them. And they're very close together. And I've even looked at the etymology of them, because they're very connected in a lot of ways is respect word.

Emily Thompson 6:18

Good word.

Emily Thompson 6:19

Right?

Corey Winter 6:20

That's a five cent word. Good job.

Emily Thompson 6:23

Respect, and responsibility are two that come in one I am parenting a teenager. Right? So you can see why those things are the highlights of this period of my life, too. I have been building a team of younger folks. Right. And so these things, in particular, just come up in a lot of conversations that I'm having on the regular. So I think about them, and I recognize them as something that has always been incredibly important to me, but wasn't highlighted in the same way as they have been in this season of my life.

Corey Winter 7:01

Yeah. Okay.

Emily Thompson 7:03

So good question. Good question. Thanks for putting me on the spot.

Corey Winter 7:06

Yeah, that's good. kicking, kicking off point. So yeah, where does that take us?

Emily Thompson 7:10

Okay, so we define our business values. When we are, ideally, you're defining them before you get started. But in reality, that doesn't usually happen until later in business. So usually part of the business plan process, defining your values and mission, right are part of like, it's one of the first pages of your business plan, figuring those things out. I will say not everyone figures that out for a while. Even at Almanac, I did not define our values until year three. And it was something that I very intentionally put off for a little while if I wanted to get in there and start building the thing. And I had inklings. And obviously, I'm putting some of my personal values into the thing that I'm building, but I did not, I did not write them down and claim them as the values of Almanac Supply Co., until year three. But once you define them, whenever that is for you, you actually have to put them to work. And that's what we're here to talk about in this episode, is practical ways that you use your values in business, and hopefully share some examples along the way of how it is that we've done it both here at Being Boss, but at Almanac. And for those of you live Clubhouse listeners, I'd love to hear from you as well how it is that you put values in your business. So feel free to be thinking about that, putting them into the chat, and otherwise, we're going to continue forward.

Corey Winter 8:38

So as for when and where values actually show up? What are some examples of where they can show up in your business?

Emily Thompson 8:47

Well, the only answer this is everywhere. Right? They should be everywhere. It shouldn't be incredibly obvious. Maybe not incredibly obvious. Like, don't put on the top of your homepage, like creativity, adventure, freedom, like lame. You could maybe if I did a personal brand website, that's what, I don't think I don't think I would make it that blatant. It should be what's the word I'm looking for? not obvious.

Corey Winter 9:19

Transparent, I going somewhere else with that.

Emily Thompson 9:21

Yeah, there is a word that you should be using, or I shouldn't be using where it's obvious, but like low key obvious, how about that? It should, everything you do should ooze with the essence of them without being incredibly blatant. So maybe you don't necessarily put them as the three bold words at the top of your website header. But as you are talking, you should be using these words as you are writing the content on your website. You should be using these words and and describing the way things you do in ways that reflect these words, that's writing website copy, because that's the world that you and I have been living in for God knows how long, but you should also think about the conversations that you're having with people. Like, are you obviously showing people that you value creativity? Right are the questions that you're asking the things that you're curious about? Do they reflect the things that you value?

Corey Winter 10:23

Okay, so let's get specific with this. So for Almanac Supply Co., your other business outside of Being Boss, how does Almanac display and show off their values for new customers? Like for a new customer just being exposed to Almanac? How do they figure out what Almanac's values are?

Emily Thompson 10:43

Oh, this is such a good question. So one of our values that Almanac is experience. And it's something that you know, as I'm onboarding new employees, and as I as I talk about these things, I want you I want everyone listening to this to feel in to all of the places where I'm obviously making touch points to our values. So when I am onboarding new employees, one of the first conversations that we have is about values, the values of the company. And I'm going through the values, and I'm explaining them to them for multiple different levels. Here's what it means for your interactions with the customers. Here's what it means for my interactions with you. Here's what it means with you know, whatever, multiple layers of values in their interactions within and outside of the company. So we start there, and then it starts bleeding through. So on one level, it is in our in-store experience, it's making sure that it's clean, that people are getting greeted and talked to multiple times while they're in the store, that everything is set up beautifully. And everything is very clearly communicated. We have rock cards for all of our crystals. We have all of these details and things in place. So that even if you know when customers come in, there's a big sign that says experience.

Corey Winter 12:06

I was just thinking like when someone walks in, they're like passing out little notepads or something that have all of Almanac's values listed out so people know what they're getting when they walk in. Yeah, that's not how it works.

Emily Thompson 12:16

No, that's not what you do. That's not what you do. But you infuse everything you do with them. And so we're literally creating an experience so that whenever they leave, and they go home, and they tell their friends, you know that I went to this really cool crystal store, it was the coolest experience. Right, we have like, infused that with that word in a way that becomes incredibly tangible. We do the exact same thing with our online orders. Our packaging is like understated, but nice. Like we're not wrapping things in a ton of bubble wrap, and throwing in a box and slapping a, you know, something on it and shipping it out. We take care to wrap everything we're including our crystal cards, our thank you notes are handwritten and on really cool designed cards, and it's crinkle paper instead of bubble wrap, and there's a gnome stamped on the outside of the box. So even if you're not having an in store experience, the moment that package arrives on your doorstep, with that little gnome peeking out at you, right and experience begins of you unpacking this box of crystals and having multiple layers of unwrapping so that even if we're not there to directly facilitate an experience, you're having one. And so it's something that happens on multiple levels. And again, you don't open that box and its stamped with the word experience. But you are having an experience as you do. So it's putting extra thought into everything that we do so that we can accomplish this value, no matter how people are interacting with what it is that we're doing.

Corey Winter 13:54

So those are all very awesome examples, but they're also very physical examples. So using Being Boss on the flip side of things that is only a virtual experience for our audience, how does Being Boss display and demonstrate our values?

Emily Thompson 14:11

So I'm going to choose which one do I want to choose to illustrate here? I think resourceful. That's one of the ones and I will say another like when did we define values? Right? Very early on Kathleen and I did some very amazing branding practices or branding. Wow, my brain and words today are having a real hard time.

Corey Winter 14:36

You're doing a great job, doing a great job.

Emily Thompson 14:38

Branding exercises. That's what we did. Thank you, Corey. We did a lot of branding exercises and values were something that we left a little open ended and began solidifying over the first year or two and we actually did a mastermind with with a friend of ours. We did this exercise, it was like a personalities sort of quiz exercise sort of thing where we got our individuals sort of words that describe us. And we realized that these individual words, were really an amazing distillation of the values that we were both bringing into the company and adopted them for the company. Whenever I bought Kathleen, out of Being Boss, I took it as an opportunity to sit down and sort of redefine our values as Emily's Being Boss, basically. So that was a really fun thing to sit down and do at that point. And one of the words that I chose was resourcefulness. It honestly is probably a word that I mean, it actually it is a value that we have always held within the company, we just never quite claimed it as a value of Being Boss.

Corey Winter 15:53

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 15:54

And resourcefulness is something that I try to bring to the forefront in multiple different ways. I think of it within the context of our team of we have developed quite a resourceful bunch of folks who are here doing the thing. And if you ask anyone who has employees, one of the hardest things is having employees come to you always with all the questions because the only resource they have is you, right, and I feel like even within the team, we have created a really beautiful environment where we are all incredibly resourceful, we will all figure it out one way or the other.

Corey Winter 16:29

That's like a fancy way of saying we're gonna make stuff up until it works.

Emily Thompson 16:32

I mean, test and change! That's exactly what that is. It's just testing and changing, for sure. So that's one side of it. But then I also think about the content that we're creating. One, it is a resource, right? We are literally full of resources here at Being Boss, we've created a fullness of resources. But it's also an underlying, underlying quality I tried to instill in everyone who listens. That like you know what to do, or you can figure it out, and you literally have Google in your pocket at all times. And so I hope that I am, I am cultivating resourcefulness. And everyone listening to this as well, so that I'm pushing that value out into the world, and helping everyone cultivate more of it. It's something that infuses itself into everything that we do on some level or another. And it I think, defines what generally Being Boss is. And so it's something that very mindfully goes into lots of things. And that's this same thing with all of our values. That's just one example from each business. But if you claim your value, and you practice your values, and you instill them into everything in your business in a way that makes sense, and is useful, you can see the threads of your values and everything that you do and it becomes one you are operating from a place of amazing integrity. And two, everyone can see and feel it as they are interacting with you.

Emily Thompson 18:22

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Corey Winter 19:32

Public facing those are great ways to demonstrate your values. But what about behind the scenes like with your team and stuff? How do values come into play there?

Emily Thompson 19:40

I'm currently in the middle of doing performance reviews for everyone. I did it with the Being Boss team. I guess it was last week of it feels like a year ago and I'm currently right in the middle of doing it with the Almanac team right now. And so it's very fresh in my mind that these come in to the conversations that I'm having on the regular, but also very much so in these moments.

Corey Winter 20:03

So I will say, since you brought it up, when you do these performance reviews, such as with myself, the values always come up in the questions that you're asking us. What are you having the most fun doing right now. And actually fun is one of my core values, because I want to be able to enjoy what I'm doing. So you always know to ask me that. Because like, if I'm not having fun when I'm doing I'm not going to do a good job. So that's very important in my work, that's one of my core values. So you're very mindful with your employees to to bring values to the table during these performance reviews.

Emily Thompson 20:32

Yeah, I mean, it would be very not boss of me if I didn't, right. Right. So yeah, you do and it gives context for any and all conversations internally that you're having. Even you know, I've thought I can think of times where I've had some difficult conversations with like sales associates on the Almanac team, right? And it comes back to you're not upholding our values. If our value in store is experience, and you're not greeting people when they come in the door, then you are not upholding the values of the company. And that's a conversation we need to have. So it gives context to those performance review times both so you can, you know, bring out of people what is most important for them, but also for the organization. And also so that you can correct things that are happening that are not in alignment, when you don't have that guidepost that dictates alignment. It could feel like it's out of left field. If you come to someone and you're like, I have a problem with what you're doing right right here right now. And you're in if they have no context is like, well, you're just having a bad day. Right? But if they can, if you can go to them and be like, because it's in misaligned with our values that we touch on constantly that I onboard you like this is the guideposts from which we are all operating not just you in this moment. But all of us all the time, then it gives those conversations. It grounds those conversations, in fact, rather than feeling and helps, I think the entirety of the employee review process go significantly more smoothly, and is simply easier to do, because they can be very sort of emotional for all parties involved. But if you're doing it from the place of your values, you're just realigning along the way.

Corey Winter 22:26

So how do you inform your employees what the business's values are, like when you're first hiring them? or what have you?

Emily Thompson 22:35

Or what have you. One they're a part of our employee handbook. I've talked about that a little bit here. Lately, if you're in the Clubhouse, you've heard me talk about the employee handbook for the past year, because I had to do one, but like a really kind of intense one, like a very rudimentary, almost like the kind of one that you would do for someone when they're entering their first job, because in some cases, I'm hiring people for their first job. Right. So they need to know that there are things that are okay or not okay. So I did my first employee handbook at Almanac about a year ago. I hated doing it to y'all.

Corey Winter 23:14

Yeah, it soundsgross. But it is very key. It's a very key thing. But ew.

Emily Thompson 23:19

It is it is incredibly important. Because if you don't know how to act, you don't know how to act. Right? And so, so I did this employee handbook, and like page number three is our values.

Corey Winter 23:34

How many pages is your handbook?

Emily Thompson 23:36

Like 50?

Corey Winter 23:37

Geez.

Emily Thompson 23:38

Yeah, I know.

Corey Winter 23:40

Those are terms and conditions, I don't want to read.

Emily Thompson 23:43

Corey, you have to then you have to sign that you say that you did. It's a whole thing. So literally, like, someone comes in for their first day of work. And I like set them up on the time tracking system, and I do all these little things that I need to do. And then I sit them down and I'm like, Okay, for the next 30 minutes, I want you to read this, like make notes. Let me know if you have any questions. And they're so within three pages values. And then after that, I always take them aside and have a conversation about both our company history and then we talk about the values. So two of the first interactions that a new employee at Almanac has with me is values based, where you are being introduced as part like leading part of the handbook. And do we're going to have a conversation about it. And I'm going to tell you that as we go along. If I ever see you making a decision from a place of our values, I'm going to be much more accepting of that decision. Even if it maybe wasn't the right decision. If I can see that you've made it from a place of our values that I'm going to be way more okay with it than if I don't see that, and telling them those sorts of things so they can understand that it is an important part of what we do. So I start there and the conversation never really stops.

Corey Winter 25:05

Yeah. So without mentioning any names or anything like that. I, as long as it's not me, do you have some examples of when you've encountered an employee that is not demonstrating your company's values, whether it's at Almanac or Being Boss? And how did you address it?

Emily Thompson 25:27

For sure. I mean, when I think of resourcefulness at Being Boss, there's definitely been times where I've been like you could be more resourceful. And maybe not quite like that.

Corey Winter 25:37

I feel like you were talking directly to me when you said that.

Emily Thompson 25:39

I don't mean you, as in you, Corey. But if you thought that there might be a reason why. I just mean, you like a universal you. I feel like resourcefulness has been a really big one at Being Boss, for sure. Also, no, I would say openness is another one of our values at Being Boss. And I feel like as a team, we are all incredibly open about all kinds of like very communicative, open about process and sharing know what we're working on, what's working, what's not working all of those things in a really beautiful way. At Being Boss, I feel like we're all, one we're like, we're professionals, right? We've also all worked together for so long. And three, our work is in values that at Being Boss its usually it's really incredibly easy. And thinking like back in the old days, and maybe some discord around. Yeah, resourcefulness is probably just the biggest one I can think of of like, did you actually look into all the places that you needed to define this answer? Or you're coming to me with the same kinds of questions consistently, like, let's build resources, be more resourceful, all of those things. But Being Boss is actually pretty simple at Almanac, I deal with it all the time. Because most of the people that I'm working with in the like local team are younger, this is their first, second, third job, for most of them is not going to be their career. So they're not taking it as seriously as those of us who are, you know, career here are taking it. So there's a lot more conversations around our values. Really, that experience piece is a really big one, especially with sales associates in house if you have to greet everyone, when they come in, you have to stop your personal conversations to engage with the customers like customer is number one when you're at the store. And like I said, those conversations really do they come from a place of value. So it becomes significantly easier for me to have those conversations. It also really helps me check myself a whole lot as well. So another one of our values, that Almanac is wonder it's something that David and I pinpointed really early on, it's probably one of the first values.

Corey Winter 27:58

That's not one that comes up a lot when I hear people talking about values. So can you expand on that a little bit more? Because now I'm just curious.

Emily Thompson 28:05

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 28:05

Are you wondering, perhaps?

Corey Winter 28:07

Yeah, the audience might not care. But I want to know.

Emily Thompson 28:11

Right? So the idea behind choosing wonder. We were actually between a couple of different words. similar words, I don't even remember really what they were. But there was a couple and we landed on wonder when thinking about and really around experience. So those two actually go very hand in hand with each other. But what we wanted to instill in the brand was this sort of wide eyed innocent curiosity that I think you feel when you are like, for me, it's when I am in the woods, and there's a big ass tree sitting in front of me. You know, like a magical sense of wonder, like there's totally fairies up that tree right now. And I love that for them. Right or for for both of us. It's cracking geodes. So if anyone doesn't, hasn't seen this or is unaware at Almanac, we own this weird contraption. It's like a large wrench with a giant chain on the end of it like a chain saw chain on the end of it. And you take it and you wrap this chain around a geode. So if no one knows, or if someone doesn't know a geode is basically a hollow rock. So on the outside, they look lame, just a dirty old rock. But we wrap this chain around it so that like two halves are on either side of it and we crank it up and as we crank it up at tighten the chain tightens around the rock and it splits the crystal or splits the geode in two and inside it's hollow but with beautiful crystals. So to look like a dirty old rock on the outside but on the inside is the most wonderous thing you've ever seen and to make it even more fun. You're the only person who has ever scene inside of that rock.

Corey Winter 30:03

So basically, you encourage everyone at Almanac to be kids on the inside.

Emily Thompson 30:09

Absolutely, absolutely. So when it comes to like how it is that we're presenting rocks or even doing our geode cracking or, or doing crystal grid workshops or creating displays in the store, like we have gnomes everywhere, our crystals have googly eyes, y'all there crystals in our store that have googly eyes. It's a whole fun thing that both adults and kids love. We're cracking geocodes and making a big scene about it and doing all of these things that instills a sense of wonder for everyone because that's what I want to foster within people in relationship to nature. Right? I want people to connect with that sense of wonder when it comes to nature, because then we're fulfilling our mission, which is literally helping people connect with nature. Right.

Corey Winter 31:03

So I do want to shout out Rachel in the chat because she says I think wonder is the most felt value I see from you at Almanac. So I guess you're doing something right.

Emily Thompson 31:13

Yes, yes. I love that a ton. So good. I'm so glad to hear that because that is something that again, I'm not pasting "wonder" up all over my store though. I could definitely see very like...

Corey Winter 31:24

I was going to say, some stencils on the wall.

Emily Thompson 31:27

That's exactly what I was thinking. Some nice, 2008, curly font, wonfer up on the wall would be a whole vibe. I hate that. Actually a ton. A ton, but we could totally do it. So, um, when it comes to talking to Oh, no, this was all about me. Helps me check myself sorry. Sorry, I forgot. Um, so that one in particular keeps me in check. When I'm like having to go to work.

Corey Winter 32:00

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 32:00

Right? Or I'm not particularly excited about something or haven't made the space to like really focus on something. The job becomes way more fun when I remember that. It's just about being a goofy kid. And like connecting people with magical like sparkly moments. And so your values can really motivate you to show up and do the work as well. For me, it's you know, sometimes it feels very mundane, but whenever I remember that one of my values is wonder at my job is literally to make people get giggly, then fine. I'll go to work and I guess see there.

Emily Thompson 32:39

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Corey Winter 33:40

You've kind of touched on it already. But let's just go and move into this next topic practical ways to actually use your values in your business. And so the first little prompt here is actually ask our audience that's here today. Where do you use values in your business? And actually, just some people have already answered this one. So scrolling up a little bit, who was it? I believe it was, oh, Kate, Kate mentioned that she keeps her values in mind and making decisions and marketing for her business.

Emily Thompson 34:08

Yeah, that's a good one. So making or using your values to make decisions makes making decisions significantly easier. So for example, if you know if we're looking at two different episode topics at being boss, which one is going to help bosses be more resourceful? Yeah, right or cultivate more openness or allow us to be more open with our audience, whatever that may look like. Because Did I mention earlier openness is one of us it big balls made just throws pulled that one out of my hat. So it helps you make decisions between opportunities one way or the other, which one upholds your values even more? And then definitely with your marketing as well. That's the way that you sort of blast your values out into the world in a nice like sneaky kind of way. So that you're building trust, right? If what people experience when you're marketing is what they experience when they're actually interacting with you, they trust what you're doing so much more. And so if you're infusing both of those things, with your values, you're going to accomplish that if you're like, all values out front, but once they get inside, like, there's no wonder and a crappy experience, then like, that's a problem. They're not going to trust you. But if those things are aligned, then you're winning. And your values are helping you do it.

Corey Winter 35:31

And I can't think of any specific examples, but I feel like at Being Boss, we have definitely canceled projects or canceled planned episodes and stuff, because we decided that they did not align with our values. And I can't think of anything specific. But just I feel like that was the case.

Emily Thompson 35:49

Oh, 100%, I can think of, I could probably relatively quickly think of half a dozen examples of a time that.

Corey Winter 35:59

Oh, maybe my memory is failing. That's fine.

Emily Thompson 36:02

That's why I'm here to do this. I definitely have a handful of sponsorship opportunities over the years.

Corey Winter 36:09

Yeah, yeah.

Emily Thompson 36:10

People who have literally shown up to give us money, and we're like, not aligned.

Corey Winter 36:15

Okay, that's actually that reminds me of one. So there was a sponsorship that we have had in the past, and they were actually on for a long time. And then we found out retroactively that they were not a good business to align with. And we actually removed those ads from our past episodes, because they did not align with our values. So that's actually a good point, right? There's just companies that you may work with, or contractors you may work with, if they don't align with your values. They're not a good fit.

Emily Thompson 36:43

Yeah, for sure. Oh, yeah, it's a wonderful lens for choosing those sorts of things. I can also think of a couple of different guests, who have pitched themselves, or who have invited me on to their show and not aligned, especially when it comes to having guests here. Because if you're coming into this space, where I've been cultivating these specific, these specific values, and this is what my audience is expecting, and what they need and want from us, then if you're going to come in, and especially if you're going to counter those values, then absolutely not a good fit. So there are at least a dozen easy situations there. I will not get namie. But there have been many times over the years. I also think about, you know, one of the biggest ones, and I was so grateful that it finally made it to this place. But that Facebook group.

Corey Winter 37:41

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 37:41

That we closed down in 2018. There was, so we opened up a Facebook group for the Being Boss audience in 2015. It grew very quickly. In 2018, when we decided to shut it down, there were 28,000 people in that group, it had gotten insane, insane. And I had been trying to talk the team into shutting it down for probably like six to 12 months. Like I was on board. I was I had already been off Facebook, I wasn't even in it. But the things of the team were coming to me with with like, here's an issue here. We need facilitators for this, like someone in blah, blah, blah, whatever. Someone hired someone from the group and they didn't do their job. And I'm like, this is literally not my responsibility. Like, absolutely, like none of this is our responsibility.

Corey Winter 38:28

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 38:28

But it took the team a long time to get on board with me for shutting this group down. And you know, what, finally, what finally got it and understanding that it was in misalignment with our values. Right? So for a long time, we sort of like the value that we that was strongly held but loosely defined was, will it help bosses be more boss?

Corey Winter 38:54

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 38:54

Right. And if it if it made it through that filter, then absolutely sponsors, guests, etc. And when I finally put the Facebook group through, is it actually helping bosses be more boss? Or is it more of a distraction than a resource? Right? Should it stay? And the answer was, it may be a good resource, but it's more distracting than anything for anybody. And mostly just Facebook, not necessarily the group. But definitely Facebook was the problem. Surprise. So we shut down the group. So 28,000 people in a group and 2018 we shut down before people were doing things like that. It was because there was a finally, like, come to Jesus around the fact that it was in misalignment with our values.

Corey Winter 39:44

And then shouting out Rachel again over there in the chat. She says that values are her favorite way to decide if she wants to work with a client. That's the first thing she checks.

Emily Thompson 39:54

Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, it's funny, I actually think about this in terms of my team a lot. I especially like I'm constantly doing team building and hiring and onboarding and off board, like, I run a retail store now. So basically, my entire life is just that, I feel at Almanac. So this is definitely my context for this. But I can also recall very clear parallels to when I was working with clients back in the day. And that, when you, the transaction in both of those situation is time for attention. I mean, there is an outcome for sure, that's definitely much more so true in the boss employee relationship than with the client and service provider relationship. But it still is pretty true. In most cases, there may be some other deliverable, but there is a money for attention situation, which means that the attention that you're getting or giving also needs to be alignment with those values. So bringing in an employee that where there's a misalignment, there's, like, there's conflict in the attention that you're getting, same thing with clients and the service provider, if there is a conflict in those, then then it's difficult to do the job that you need to do. I also think of it often, I think of this very much so with employees as well. But also I see the parallel with clients of like, for a particular amount of time, this person is going to be a weirdly large part of your life. Right, like more so than we probably really think about of, for six months, I'm going to be talking to this person three times a week, like that's more than my mother. Right, it's more than I talk to my mom. So like, you are going to be spending a lot of time with this person, if you for me, it's employing someone, like I'm going to be seeing you multiple times a week. And not only that, but the people who work with you are gonna see you for like six hours a day, four times a week, or whatever it may be, there has to be some sort of alignment or mutual respect for values, or it's not going to be a happy time for anybody.

Corey Winter 42:05

Yeah. So what are some other practical ways to use values in business? Whether it's at a physical store, or virtual?

Emily Thompson 42:14

One of my very favorite ways to do this? As I put it at the top of all of my planning documents.

Corey Winter 42:21

Okay.

Emily Thompson 42:22

Every single time.

Corey Winter 42:23

How so?

Emily Thompson 42:24

So it's funny, do you not remember, Corey, we go over this every time.

Corey Winter 42:31

Maybe I'm asking for the audience, not for myself.

Emily Thompson 42:38

So you say so you say Good, good, good job on air producer. So every single quarter I do a quarterly plan. It's a little mini CEO day there's we actually have an episode about doing a mid year CEO days in our archives will include the link in the show notes. So four times a year, I sit down, I do a quarterly CEO day. And as I'm creating those plans, I have like this little template in Notion where I go into my quarterly plans, and I replicate my template and right there at the top of it is our values. For both companies. I think I feel like I do this better at Being Boss, honestly, than at Almanac. At Almanac, I'm just like winging it all the time. Being Boss, I'm very good about sitting down and quarterly things like we know what our projects are, it's way easier to do it. So I'm seeing it Being Boss's in my mind. The first three things on there are the values like the three values. And I look at that, and I read it and I go through my planning through the lens of my values. And then whenever I presented to you guys, I always start with alright guys, remember our values are this, this and this. So it is the leading thing with all of my quarterly planning that I do. I think it just keeps it top of mind, it's really easy to forget, it's really easy to forget these things and not forget isn't you know what they are. But when you're choosing which projects do you want to tackle next? Are you thinking about it through the lens of your values? Maybe not?

Corey Winter 44:11

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 44:12

It's easy to forget. So that's one of my favorite places to put it is there. I also like to think of it when creating content, I think it's probably easier to think about it when creating like social media content, like short form content, right? Because why do I think that's easier? I don't know. I don't know why I think that's easier. And mostly I'm thinking if anyone is following like most widely accepted like Instagram strategies, right? You have your five categories of content, like so you've already pre planned out this like these categories of content, which hopefully at that point you were doing around your values, and so it just kind of trickles down significantly easier with social media content?

Corey Winter 45:02

Okay, I have a question. And I don't exactly know what answer I'm looking for. So I'm just going to rely on you to answer this in whatever way you want.

Emily Thompson 45:10

That's how you ask questions to people. Yes, good job.

Corey Winter 45:13

I think it's more like I don't really know what question I'm asking. So.

Emily Thompson 45:17

Yep.

Corey Winter 45:19

When you're creating content, such as social media posts, or podcast episodes, how do you make sure you can continue to stay aligned with your values, instead of just hopping on what's trendy? Because trendy is not always going to align with what you should be creating to align with your values?

Emily Thompson 45:37

You gotta be a rebel, like me.

Corey Winter 45:39

Oh, okay.

Emily Thompson 45:41

Maybe.

Corey Winter 45:42

So confirm, you could not answer that that way. I thought you're going to.

Emily Thompson 45:47

Good good good. No, I think it comes with practice, a little bit, I think it comes with, it's funny, I think that that is literally the definition of owning who you are. And like, and really practicing your values. As if you are owning who you are, you are not as swayed by trends. Right? You are going to show up and share the content and the way that you need to because that's what you are here to do. And you're not going to sidestep into five ways to style your outfit for Instagram this week, right? Or whatever it may be, if that's if that is your content, love that for you. I wasn't throwing shade, just saying. As opposed to if you are really owning who you are practicing, your values are going to show up and create the content that you are most here to create. And it's going to be in your podcasts, in your blog posts in whatever it is, which is why I think that long form content. I feel like that one is both harder for you to potentially remember to bring your values into it. But also one of the places where it might be the easiest to really bring your values into it. So it's kind of hard for me to create a sense of wonder. And well, actually, i feel like this is a lie. But it's kind of I'm lying when I say this, but it might be hard for me to create wonder and a couple of Instagram posts, I definitely see where that can absolutely happen. But let me give you a long form piece of content. And am I going to think about wonder one of the like, what should I write a very SEO friendly blog post about this week? I wonder? That's a joke, that that was my joke. But when it comes to actually creating that content, I can really do some cool stuff with it. If I keep those value is top of mind. So I think it's both a little more difficult to keep it keep it in mind when you're thinking about long form content, but maybe easier to stay true to them in the places where you're doing long form content. Yeah, that's my speel. I would say I think I got there.

Corey Winter 47:58

So what you're saying is, you will never never show up on Being Boss's Instagram account doing the most trendy dance that is all the rage this week, just to get clicks?

Emily Thompson 48:09

Absolutely not.

Corey Winter 48:11

Okay.

Emily Thompson 48:11

Absolutely not.

Corey Winter 48:12

Just wanna make sure.

Emily Thompson 48:13

I think if I were to do that, I think y'all would know that it was inauthentic. And I think so no, I think you people generally know. And they're like, this feels off. Right? That's you being a little too trendy. As opposed to me who's like, No, I'm going to be resourceful. You know, what's not a great resource for me Instagram.

Corey Winter 48:33

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 48:34

Right. There's like, there's a difference there. And for you in your business, there is a version of that. Right, whatever that may be. If you're, if your value is professionalism, and you're dancing on the tick tax, then might want to check yourself. Unless it's like the most professional dance anyone has ever seen.

Corey Winter 48:58

I mean, yeah, if you're just like, if you got the moves, show them off.

Emily Thompson 49:03

Butyou could also do that at the club.

Corey Winter 49:05

Yeah, true, that were out what are some other practical ways to use values? And we kind of brought this up already, but you do have mentioned here in conversations with employees? We have touched on that. Do you have any other practical ways to use that?

Emily Thompson 49:19

I think just always, I, it's funny, I feel like client customer facing, you don't need to be talking about them necessarily all the time. Right. I feel like there's ways to bring them into what it is that you're saying and how you're presenting yourself and all of those things. When it comes to employees, you can talk about them all the time, like use the word say, the experience here, or in order to ignite a sense of wonder or another one of our values at Almanac is collaboration. And that one's a really interesting one with lots of deep meanings that I think work for us. But I talk often about collaborating with teammates or collaborations that we're doing with other or makers or artists. So I'm literally saying the words often. So I do just want to pinpoint where, you know, I've talked about being a little sly on the values when presenting forward facing, internally, use them every single day in conversations and emails and talking to yourself, put them at the top, put those post, its all over your screen, if you mean leave some holes there so you can see what you're doing. But in general, make sure you're make sure your values are very top of mind internally, because it will trickle down into everything that you do whenever you're being that blatant on the inside.

Corey Winter 50:40

Yeah. So I know, we said we weren't going to talk about examples of places we've seen other businesses succeed or fail using their values. But I did think an example and I'm gonna put them on blast.

Emily Thompson 50:50

Oh boy.

Corey Winter 50:51

Because I have always been a huge fan of this company. And I still in most ways, but they have been hurting my feelings lately. And I've actually, I actually wrote about this in one of our boot editions a couple months ago Best Buy, like the last remaining brick and mortar store for electronics. And in that route edition, I mentioned how, when they brought in their most recent CEO, he actually came from a hospitality background. And so when he took over BestBuy, he made the customer experience and happiness one of the core values at BestBuy. So he introduced a bunch of ways to improve the customer experience, such as introducing discounts and, and more knowledgeable customer service employees and stuff like that. So when he actually went to Best Buy, they became the experts in technology. So when you went to Best Buy you, you could get answers you were looking for when purchasing like a new TV or something. And then when he retired, a new CEO came in and they were more worried about just numbers and stuff and slowly started getting rid of the customer improvement experiences. And so like they actually introduced or they removed benefits and stuff from like their customer loyalty programs and stuff like there's no longer same day shipping and rewards points and stuff. And so like Best Buy, has been losing their values about putting their customer first.

Emily Thompson 52:15

Yeah, that's what happens whenever you start working out of alignment, or if you have someone in your company who is not operating in alignment with your values. It there's also a trickle down effect there. I read something recently similar about Apple, how used to or under Steve Jobs, the Apple bar, what's that thing called help bar? What is that thing in the store that you go to this like you go back to the.

Corey Winter 52:42

I never go to their stores, I have no idea.

Emily Thompson 52:43

Genius Bar! Thank you, Rachel. Right, how under Steve Jobs like the Genius Bar employees were encouraged to spend as much time as possible talking to their customers to solve the problem. And then under Tim Cook, he's more concerned about getting as many people through and it's caused enough issue that I think this is part of the conversations about wow, what is it unionizing? Sorry, my brain and words today it's a real thing. Because they're not able to do their job and and then getting in trouble for not doing the shitty jobs they should be doing anyway, whole nine yards. It is it's very real when a company changes track of values, especially when they are incredibly customer facing. But I'll tell you the flip side of that. And you see this with Apple as well. Is if it if the customers aren't seeing it, and it's just internal. You don't lose customers, you lose employees.

Corey Winter 52:43

Yeah.

Emily Thompson 52:47

Right. When there is a misalignment things can go really wrong, either internally or externally. Yeah, we done with this one, we do it.

Corey Winter 53:59

Let's put a pretty pin on. Do you have any final thoughts about using values in your business and where they can show up and making sure people that work for you are also making sure they show up? Any advice? Any next steps?

Emily Thompson 54:15

Yes. I think maybe like cause and effect. How about that? Whenever I think about values in business, we were all showing up. We're making a million decisions a day, right? We're moving our businesses forward. We're working with our clients and customers. We're working with our team, internal external, remote, in person, whatever. There's a lot of opportunities to fuck up. Basically, right, like one way or the other, you're gonna make the wrong decision. You're gonna say the wrong thing, whatever it may be. I have found that when you actively infuse everything you do with your values as much as you humanly can and it's a practice like there are definitely days that I show up, and I'm probably not creating the best experience for somebody, right? I mean, we all have that, even if it's just me, creating the best experience for myself, or whatever it may be, or I'm not being the most resourceful or whatever, whatever. If you are navigating all of these things as much as you can through the lens of your values, you're not going to feel bad about the mistakes. And you're not going to regret the things that go wrong in a way that I think gives me power and peace, right as I move forward with all of the things and it helps me communicate both inwardly and outwardly, about what it is that we're doing and what expectations are in a way that also has everyone moving forward with that same power and peace. So mostly, there is an effect of all of this like a very real felt effect and that you feel better about your work when you're operating from a place of your values. And other people will feel that as well. It makes the scary path of entrepreneurship feel more aligned and easier to navigate.

Corey Winter 56:15

Yeah, so if you were looking for a good starting place as a reminder, you can go to beingboss.club/values if you need to define your values, but also we have tons of resources on there such as worksheets and podcast episodes and all that fun stuff. So go find that beingboss.club/values.

Emily Thompson 56:33

And if you ever want to come see a Live podcast where we absolutely cut out many goofy moments from this episode, you better cut those out Corey. Cut them out, Corey. Then you can join the Being Boss clubhouse beingboss.club/community and join the clubhouse version. Emma says that she loves the goofy, right here because it felt very goofy at times. It always does. Which makes doing this one of my favorite things. So thanks for coming and joining me for the first time live, Corey?

Corey Winter 57:07

Oh, yes, I was here. Yes. Next time we need to do this in person at my studio.

Emily Thompson 57:16

Corey has built a whole little studio in his house.

Corey Winter 57:21

Don't call it little.

Emily Thompson 57:21

I know I know. I'm sorry. I did not mean it like that. I did not mean it like that. Sorry. My bad. His really great studio.

Corey Winter 57:34

Big studio.

Emily Thompson 57:34

So we'll do we'll do it again. I promise.

Emily Thompson 57:40

All right, boss, because you're here I know you want to be a better creative business owner, which means I've got something for you. Each week, the team at Being Boss is scouring the news, the best entrepreneurial publications and updates and releases of the apps and tools that run our businesses and is curating it all into a weekly email that delivers the must know tips and tactics in the realms of mindset, money and productivity. This email is called brewed. We brew it up for you each week to give you the insight you need to make decisions and move forward in your creative business. Check it out now and sign up for yourself at being boss.club/brewed that's beingboss.club/brewed now until next time, do the work. Be boss.