Does Your Business Have Mojo?

What makes one business better than another? Better at making money. Better at marketing. Better at setting up great systems. Yes, all the great business skills that people put into practice definitely play a role. But it’s more than that. Every business that puts those skills into practice doesn’t necessarily do as well as the founders had hoped, in a sustainable way. What’s missing in those businesses that don’t achieve their promise is mojo. Mojo is about impact. About using your leadership to bring together all the elements of your business to make a positive difference in the lives of the people it comes into contact with. How do you get mojo? By actively appreciating that your business has the potential to become a difference maker in people’s lives. Let’s break that down:

1. See and choose the impact you can have. From the many possibilities of impact, of difference-making, choose the difference you want to make. What change would you like to see in the world that you and your business could influence?
2. Connect to where you are. Being an active part of your community with your business makes for great mojo. People recognize the connection, and adopt your business as their own. And your business is affected by where you are: it’s the terroir of your business, like the climate, soil, and weather of grape growers: that special mix of people, location, and surroundings. Even if your business has clients around the world, that is a community too.
3. Serve your customers willingly and well. When you appreciate that your business can make a difference in people’s lives, you feel motivated to amp up your customer service to an unprecedented level. You’re making a difference, after all! It’s more than just delivering a product or service.
4. Embrace your team. All the people that come together to make a difference with your business are important. Team members and suppliers too. With that level of appreciation in mind, your relationships with these VIPs can shift to care and recognition. They become loyal to the business and the impact it is having.
5. Keep it manageable. Not everyone has to have an empire. Keeping your business the size you want, where you know everyone and can talk to them and hear about their lives, is a worthy goal too. Perhaps more worthy than building just for the sake of size. With size, you can waste what you’ve built through hierarchy. If you lose your impact along the way, then what is the point anyway?

Business isn’t just about the mechanics, the spreadsheets, the tangibles. Great business is an art. Mojo lets you be an artist, in your own unique way. Mojo creates intimacy, a deep connection between your business and the people it touches. The relationships with team, clients, suppliers, and the community is one of the great rewards of your business and one of the crucial generators of mojo that your business radiates. The mojo effect ripples out. Fulfilled and satisfied team and clients become people who can make a positive difference in other people’s lives too. It’s all part of your mojo!