February has dawned and the theme is ‘lurve’ – yet how can we apply love to business?

FEBRUARY HAS DAWNED AND THE THEME IS ‘LURVE’ – yet how can we apply love to business?

IT’S NOW February, the month of love and everything lurve-related! Like it or loathe it, it’s a vibe that’s everywhere and a useful theme for some story-telling for at least the first half of the month.

Yet how can you apply that  to you and your business?

Well you have a few choices – you can opt for personal stories or business stories or a bit of both.

For your business: a few ideas:

• Consider how much you love your business and everything to do with your business? Talk about it.
• Do you love every aspect of it, or are there things that you don’t enjoy and put off doing? Talk honestly about that.
• Are there services or products that you’ve grown tired of and slightly out of love with in your business? Talk about it and ask for ideas, or share your new ideas.
• What do clients love about your business, service or product? Share the love, your top testimonials of 2022 perhaps?
• How can you help others love their business? List the ways…
• Talk about how you love your business by taking time to work on your business, not just in your business.
• When you’re feeling a little down, sit and list all of the wins you’ve had in the year or previous months.
• Choose a community charity, or another that resonates with you, where you can give back with love from your business earnings.
• Love your staff – celebrate them talk about their strengths – don’t leave anyone out. If you’ve got a big team them why not get them to tell you what they love about their job and create a social media ‘love’ campaign.
• Celebrate the people who work with you, whether they are employed staff or freelancers. Make sure you recognise what they have added to your business, thanking them when they go that extra mile. Thank them for their support and loyalty, letting them know how grateful you are to have them as an important part of your business.
• Thank your favourite suppliers who your use year in year out, for their great service or product. Send them a card, flowers, or hamper – something appropriate to let them see how much you appreciate their work. Also, when they provide you with something, and it’s appropriate, share a picture of their latest work on your social media.

• Thank clients, particularly long-term clients who come back to you, time and time again. As with suppliers, send them a gift, when appropriate, or you might give them discounts on workshops and services. Let them know that you appreciate them.
• Business support buddies are priceless. The people you can turn to for support; ring them when you’re feeling down, or have just had a difficult conversation that has upset you. Let them be one of the first to know when you have had a big win – maybe a business award.

When you work alone in a small business, particularly, it is important to have those buddies that you can talk to when you need help, knowing that they are not going to judge you, or talk about you and your business.

Or you can go all personal – and there’s nothing wrong with that. Share your love story or that of your parents, or someone close to you? Amazing stories or coincidences or stories within your family which have inspired you?

Or perhaps you can reflect on a love story which inspired you which is well known but not personal to you. Someone you admire, past or present or a fictional story you love – could be in a book, or a tv series or in a film.

Love presents all sorts of possibilities for tales – as does it’s anti-thesis – hate…what do you hate or loathe? However that’s a whole other story!