You Will Succeed (Or Fail) Because of WHO You Are

Businesses open and close every day, and there is no shortage of advice from so-called “experts” about what you should have, could have, or would have done to be a success. Everyone, it seems, is an expert. Even more people are critics.

In fact, the longer you’re in business you’ll realize how a lot of people will have a lot of great ideas about how they think you should do things. (Which makes me wonder, if they’re such experts, why they’re not running their own company!) It’s good to have mentors and learn from those with more experience than you. So, yes, listen to them and take it all in but, just because they said it doesn’t mean you have to do it.

Stay true to your personality, your way of doing things and listen to your gut instinct before making any major decisions about your product, your service or, for heaven’s sake, your company. If you like someone’s advice or think it’s reasonable for you, if your counselors are true and trust is not an issue, you can use it but if you don’t like it don’t use it.

Case in point: one consultant recommended a particular supplier to print the labels for our bottles. Unfortunately, the supplier didn’t have the 4 x 7 die cut that we needed for our labels to look the way we really wanted them to.

Instead, the die cuts they had were 3.5 x 7 and 3 x 5, which were not appropriate for our very specific, very unique, very gourmet bottles. What’s more, if we had purchased the die cut from this particular supplier it was not going to become the property of McRae’s Foods. Instead, it would have become their property. We didn’t feel that was entirely fair because they could have used it for other printing not related to our company and its products (for which we were paying them to design labels).

Although the supplier misled the consultant by stating we just didn’t want to use their services, afterward I was so glad we decided not to use their services because I later discovered they were not the kind of people we wanted to do business with in the first place. (Curious about how the labels worked out? To see our finished product, you can check them out at www.mcraesfoods.com.)

Our barbecue sauces aren’t just made with a family recipe; our company literally revolves around family. Family members work here, family friends work here, friends of friends work here, too. Even those future employees who were strangers to us when they first interviewed are now like family and in good times and bad we stick together because of that family feeling.

It isn’t just a management style or business philosophy; it’s just how we are. It’s what makes us unique, what makes us special and, in a competitive marketplace it’s what makes us stand out as a proven brand with a known identity. And all of that comes from knowing where we wanted to go before we ever filled a bottle of barbecue sauce.