Don't Do It - Live the Life

In all developed countries, a corporation is identified as a juridical person, who has the ability to interact with others. It can sign contracts, make deals, recruit other people/companies and so much more. As a juridical person, it has its own identity, characters, culture and tradition. When starting a business, it is crucial to become one with the company! Business is not a style, or a short-term activity that we can start and stop after a short period of time. It is a life. If you want to sustain that life, you must also become one with it.

In a previous blog – “You + Four Things = THE PERFECT TEAM” – it was clarified that a business needs a team that works together as one. The team has different – and similar – characters that build the business identity. These characters are what the company projects to the society in different ways. Each member has high performance in different ways, and they know how to bring the best to the business. It makes it the greatest team your business need!

Running a business is not a paperwork – it is a lifestyle. Someone once say, “When you run a business, you’d have to work like someone is working 24/7 to take it away from you!” If it is just a hobby or something you do, it is tough to use that perspective. If you fully embrace the lifestyle, there is a price to pay! Successful people will talk about how hard they work to get to where they are. The things that most successful people would not tell us is, how many bridges they burnt to get to where they are. But, they might be implied in how hard they work. This is the price of elevating to become one with the business.

People are picky about who they let into their business for a great reason. They’d have certain vision and desire, and fully comprehend the value of high performance in workplace. It is because they and their company has become one – the life! The success of a business also depends on the dedication of a team to a collective goal. The person you’d let into your business must have the same dedication – it should not be a job to them either – but a way of life.

In eyes of government and related agencies, your business is a juridical person with its own life. Any character that does not do your business any good will be excluded the moment you enter the business, because it holds back your company. Have you ever hear the phrase “put your money where your mouth is” before? In other word, your mouth is useless, while putting your money into what you use it to say strengthens its credibility. This means putting your characters into benefiting the business.

Some of my favorite:  “if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen”, “nothing personal, it is just business”, “if you can’t proof it – you don’t know/got it” and “if you get game, take it to the field”. Heat represent the effort, dedication and strength you’d put into getting what you do through, while the kitchen is a lifestyle!

There is a strong distinguish between what we do and who we are! But they relate to one another. When you characterize everything you need –take them to your company, and subtract the ones you don’t need in you – you make your business your life! For clarification – you have no idea what you are capable of – until it really matters to your life! When it is understood that this business is your life – then you will efficiently handle everything relating to it the same way you will handle your life!

The big objective is to master characters that matter to the business – and then you can turn those characters that your business needs to your identity. Bottom line – live the life that your business needs for it to be successful!