Everyone talks about adding value to everything you do, be it in your business or your personal life….but what exactly does this mean? Does it mean you give away ‘free’ stuff? Does it mean doing more for less payment in return? Or could it mean giving away something of you in all your transactions – a bit of your passion, your creativity, your aspirations?
Now, I don’t want to make that sound scary…like you are giving bits of you away and you are disappearing before your very eyes. More like, everything you do you add your personal values & passions to it – producing a wonderful combination of your talents, your energy and your know-how into each transaction you make with people around you. Now does that sound appealing or just plain hard-work?!?! To be honest, that could just depend on what kind of a day you’re having today! But I wonder if you could challenge yourself to give a little more ‘oomph’, a little more energy, and a little more creativity to your connections for a day and see what value you bring to the party.
How? In practical terms, this relies on us as business owners and professionals to add value by believing in what we are doing, having faith that what we are undertaking is worth doing, and that it matters both to us and to our potential clients. Without this belief, this commitment, this extra something – added value – then we are liable to simply replicate the general everyday products and services that are already out there.
Some successful people see adding value as adding their signature onto their creations – seeking to give people not just what they need but what they clamour for, what they get excited about, and ultimately what they’ll pay for. This was typically personified by Steve Jobs at Apple who made tablets the buzz item of the last few years…but Apple weren’t the first to produce tablets, yet their product is the by-word for cool tablets currently. So what does Apple do differently? They produce what they want to see, what they get excited about, they add in Apple company ‘values’ – creativity, design-led, aspirational themes and quality high-end products…values I quite like to be associated with…what about you?
Contact Life Matters Coaching if you want to gain clarity on your values and purpose in your work or personal life. Coaching is an effective way of identifying your vision and aspirations and it can support you on your route to add value every day to your own life.