Minding Your Business

I have always loved all things, Bruce Lee. I mean, how could you not? I haven’t met many people who don’t admire him, even if they aren’t his biggest fans. Lee was perhaps the most influential martial artist of all time and became a pop culture icon and successful Hollywood actor while paving the way for Asians to be better represented in American films.

Not only was the man talented on a physical and artistic level, but he was also really wise and insightful. He once was quoted as saying, “Never regret being a good person to the wrong people. Your kindness says everything about you. Their behavior says everything about them.”

While this applies directly to the way of the peaceful warrior type mentality often associated with martial arts, I believe that the premise of this quote also applies to consultancy. Allow me to explain…

Reputation

For me, this quote comes down to who you are, which will determine your actions, good or bad, which will then be the bricks that stack to build your reputation (the reputation that you will not only have to carry around daily, but that will follow you forever). 

Reputation matters, and it has a strong and direct impact on your life (and business). In fact, according to Jan Fields, once the president of McDonald’s USA and recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the most powerful women in business, “Your reputation is everything. You build your personal brand through everything you do, whether big actions or small decisions, and that brand will stay with you throughout your career.”

Author and business coach Brian Koslow reiterates the importance—and power—one’s reputation holds in his quote, claiming, “There is no advertisement as powerful as a positive reputation traveling fast.” This is similar to what Fields said: your reputation is basically like your personal brand. And you want people to “buy into” and want to “invest” in that brand, right? But this requires them to trust you enough to take that step. The way to gain that trust begins with having a good reputation that instills confidence in your clients that you conduct yourself—and your business—in an exemplary manner, in all things and always (regardless of what others and other companies around you are doing).

Consistency

It’s the always and all things that I want to hone in on. The word for this is consistency, which is achieved by repeating the same (good, ethical, and right) business practices and behaviors over and over, every day, with every client. If you do this, the clientele will follow. Elizabeth Arden knew this well, which led to her creating a multi-million dollar company that is still thriving today. Arden put it simply: “Repetition makes reputation, and reputation makes customers.”

And here is where things come full circle, as what is your reputation built around? It’s based on who you are and how you treat others and conduct business. As a consultant, regardless of what others around you are doing, you have one name, and the name that you make for yourself in this business matters.

So, final words of advice: Stay in your lane, and literally mind your business, all while remembering that you can still be a respectable person and conduct yourself in a way you can be proud of, even when others aren’t. Remain focused on what’s in front of you, putting your best foot forward, even when you don’t align with those around you.