Have you ever come across a quote, and it just speaks to you? I recently came across this one, and it spoke.

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

Albert Einstein

Success and value to me go hand in hand. Especially as a business to be successful, we have to have some sort of value and worth to our customers. If they don’t see the value in our products, there are no customers. Whether we are giving value through a service, a product or both, the more value we present and give, the more success we will find. We will find success in our practices, our daily activities, success in profits, and everywhere we look.

There are many ways to be valuable to our customers. We give value through our posts, insights, and behind the scene looks in our social media outlets. To show our customers the way something is made, and to give a glimpse into our world of our making process, adds a tremendous value for our customers that appreciate the making process, and enjoy the steps a product goes through to being born. Have you ever watched an episode of How It’s Made? Every time I see a brand on there that I recognize, I fall in love with them even more because of the glimpse they gave us that we didn’t have before. They are providing value to me, and in turn I offer success. As a business I offer value through my goods. I include gifts, and give my customers more than what they expect. Stretching their dollar farther, and in return they give me success. I offer value through my customer service. By being speedy, but accurate, ahead of schedule, but producing quality products, and providing the best service that I can, not only through the product itself, but of the presentation, I show my customers I care. That every little detail, all the way down the to tape used, was to provide value to the service they purchased. Our products are more than a product. They are buying an experience. The experience of customer service, the experience of a gift, experience of a memory, and in return they are giving us success.

I also provide value to my customers by being me. No one can replace me. There is only one of me. There might be a million and one other small handmade businesses out there, but if my business ended, that would be the end of the value I provided. No one can replace my value. They may copy and try to emulate it, but at the end of the day, your customer service, your why, your products are what sets you apart, and brings value to the table. It is irreplaceable. Never forget that.

Often times success is used as the measurement for the most basic things in our lives. Success is often confused with happiness, wealth, and status. The more money you have, the more successful you will be, the happier you will be, and the list goes on. In reality, you can have happiness without success, you can be wealthy without millions, and status is just that; a status. It can change in an instant. With happiness, comes success. With wealth comes success. Success doesn’t show up first. It’s something that is obtained and accompanied way after the hard work is done. It’s something that is fought for. No matter what we think, there are not over night successes. Years of hard work, failures and lessons are behind that success. Their overnight, was years in the making. Your success may also be different from another. Their value might be at five, while yours is at one. The difference doesn’t make one success better than the other. So measure your success by your own value, not someone else’s. Their value was not made for you. Your path is separate, and that is what makes the journey to success such an adventure, and gives it that much more meaning when you reach the top. Whatever your top might be.

Being a modern business in this day and age comes with it’s benefits. We have so many tools for growth, marketing and advertising at our feet that we have no where to go but up. We may tend to hyper focus on it at times, worrying about how many follows or comments we have, or likes we are getting instead of letting our value, and products speak for themselves. All these tools give us amazing opportunities everyday to share our makes with the whole world, and not just to local customers. Our value has no bounds. Our success is endless. Don’t let the pressures of modern business scare you. Your value, your why, your success will set you apart from the many. May success find you when you reach your destination, may your value ever be growing, and may happiness be around every corner, and may you enjoy your journey. Hold on tight, it’s one heck of a ride!