TOPIC: When you’re starting a business...

When you’re starting a business, there are two essential aspects that you have to get your mind straight around – vision and core values. In a previous article, I pointed out that setting your vision, your “why” for the company, is the most important step to take, when deciding to start a business.

At the same time, as crucial as having a vision is possessing a strong set of core values. These two go hand in hand, because you neither can have core values without a vision, nor can you have a vision without having core values to build it on.

So, what are your core values? If you haven’t taken the time to think about them, it’s really important to do so, before going ahead with everything else, because your values define which direction your business is going to go. If you have your core values in place, here are 5 questions that I would suggest you ask yourself, in relation to the business you’re about to launch:

1. If you were to start a new organization today, would you build it around those core values?
2. Do you want your organization to stand for these core values in 100 years from now?
3. If your core values became a competitive disadvantage, would you still stand to them?
4. If people in your organization or clients do not share your core values, would you let them go?
5. If you were not rewarded for holding a value, would you still keep it?

I believe these are really important questions that every entrepreneur should ask themselves because it’s so important to build a business on the right foundation, on the core values. No matter the industry you’re in, the times we’re living in, the risks involved or the outside factors, such as legislation, economy, politics, etc., the answer to all of these questions should be, “Yes”, because our core values guide our lives, and anything discordant will never last.

For more pieces of advice on how to build a successful and long-lasting business, check out the Value Driven Podcast, a show with interesting, successful people, that act according to powerful values.