Business Ethics Is All About Your Character

Imagine walking up to a restaurant for an early morning breakfast and before going in, you make a decision to buy a newspaper from one of the various vending machines. However, before you can deposit your coinage, you observed the following:

Two small business owners or possibly businessmen walked up to another newspaper vending machine. One deposited the proper coins and opens the door to take his paid for newspaper. Then he asks his companion if he would like one as well? A second newspaper is removed without payment. The companion then jokes about receiving 2 newspapers for the price of one.

I personally witnessed this scenario. What I did was to take the necessary coins from my own pocketbook and deposit them into the machine. I opened the door and then closed the door without taking a newspaper. The two small business owners or executives now stared at me in disbelief.

As I approached the restaurant door, one of the businessmen opened the door, but he could not look me in the eyes. He knew he did wrong, but he thought that no one else would see. And he probably else thought that everyone else does it so why not?

Business ethics is all about character. And character is all about doing the right thing when no one else is looking.

I call this self leadership because if you cannot lead yourself well by demonstrating character when no one else is looking how can you lead others?

One of the most consistent complaints that I hear from small business owners is about the lack of work ethics such as employees who do not give an hour of work for an hour of pay. Yet, how many of their executives, supervisors and managers are doing the same thing?

Possibly, these two small business owners thought that rank had its privileges or that they had already paid their fair share? Earning a certain position does merit some additional benefits, but rank does not give permission to steal, to be disrespectful, to be unethical.

Given that our actions are open to everyone to see and hear, we in the business world must be consistently executing the right actions through our work ethics demonstrated by our self leadership skills. For failure to do so, will only cause us harm sometime down the road or the path to the restaurant door when we fail to notice who is observing our business ethics.

How to Grow Your Small Business

When you are just starting out, staff training should be one of your top priorities. Having a skilled, well-versed staff will ensure a) they are intimate with your company products, services, and mission, b) they can contribute to the growth and expansion of the business, and c) know how to properly handle problems and conflicts that may affect the business.

Customer retention should always be a top priority. Getting new customers will be irrelevant if you can’t keep your current ones. Not to mention, it is cheaper to keep current customers than try to recruit new ones. Follow through on your commitments and keep the lines of communication with your customers open.

Focus your marketing dollars where you will get the most bang for your buck. From direct mail marketing to podcasts to Google AdWords, there is an advertising solution for every business budget. Finding the right one may be a bit tricky, but research your options, find out pricing, and calculate your ROI.

Protect your small business assets and implement an online backup solution. Online backup is the most simple, convenient, and affordable way to protect valuable business records and intellectual property. And many services provide unlimited backup for a low monthly fee. Not having important documents backed up could mean the end of your business should something (or someone) damage your network.

Have a professional website designed made for your business. These days, the internet has become an integral part of business and virtually everyone uses the internet to research and check references. Your website will be a direct reflection of your business, so you want to make sure you have something that is professional, user-friendly, and eye-catching.