Why Your Feelings Matter in Business

by Bridgett Hart

As service providers, we’ve all heard the saying “the customer is always right”.  And we know 100% that’s not true.  If we’re honest with our self, it seems there are tons of times when the customer is wrong.

So, why does that saying even exist?

As business owners, we know it exists because the point is that we should bend and mold to the will and desire of the people who will give us money for our service if we want to stay in business.

And that is true, to an extent.

But at what cost? To whom?

A Case Study in Letting the Customer be Right.

Check out these two very similar, yet quite different drive-thru burger joints:

In-N-Out Burger pays their frontline employees $2/hr more than minimum wage AND gives great benefits to part-time employees.  Their store managers are only hired from within and average $160K/yr.

McDonalds is trying to replace people with kiosks where orders can just be punched in by the customers and no human interaction is needed at all. They already have machines doing as much of the burger creation process as they can, with more to come, I’m sure.

A lot about the rest of those two companies is exactly the same – the menu (although the ingredients are arguably of different quality), the area of origin, the drive through model, etc.

But, how do you FEEL about each of them?  Do either of them evoke feelings in you of things like comfort or efficiency or quality of life?

What about when you are a customer at each? Does the experience feel different? The vibe? The way the employees interact with you?

I know my answers to these, but I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave them below.

In the meantime, I want to dig into why I think the key to this difference is due to something I like to call tapping into “Self”, one of the 10 Hart Habits™️ I teach my clients to use in their businesses.

Tapping into “Self” is one of the most crucial, but underrated and overlooked parts of running a business.  People feel selfish even talking about it sometimes.

It seems like the opposite would be true as so many businesses are started as a result of people simply doing what they do, but in fact, that’s exactly the reason it is.

Have you ever found yourself at a place in life where you look back and wonder how so many years have passed with you doing the thing you are currently doing?  That can feel like a blessing or a curse – like either time flew because you were having fun OR you’ve lost all these years building something that failed/you don’t like/feels overwhelming/hasn’t turned out like you expected/etc.

Sometimes, it happens because we get into routines that work for us.  Jobs that pay the bills and allow us to live the life we want to. Relationships that meet most of our needs so we don’t want to rock the boat. Businesses that we operate because they fell into our laps or signify what we were “supposed” to do and since we did pretty well with it, we kept up at it.

But, the world around us changes all the time and your routines are GOING to change.  There will come a day when those things that kept you moving forward will fall away and you’ll be left with only you.

You alone will have to choose your own adventure and make the decisions about what direction you’ll go when that happens and you alone will be responsible for where those choices take you.

I recently read a book by Brené Brown called Daring Greatly.

One of the conclusions I drew from the book was that the most important thing I can do as a mother to my child is teach her that she is worthy of love.

Everything else stems from that and will give her the perseverance, resilience, and grit she needs to succeed. And I fully believe that.

Reading her book felt like I was reading the material from The Hart Habits™️, but in a much more sciency way (which I geek out on, of course).

So, think of tapping into Self as that intentional activity of learning more about who you are, independent of any judgements about it and communicating with each part of yourself (and your inner child) that you are worthy of love.

Your ideas, your desires, your wishes, your fears, your differences, your similarities.. It is all valid and it’s all worthy of love.  But the world isn’t going to just freely give that love.

YOU must believe it’s worth and give that love freely to yourself first and then, the world can join in.

But, that sounds all woo-woo…. what does it even mean to love yourself first?

I have some specific tools I guide my clients through, but an important first step of the process is to consciously release your judgements of yourself about how you feel, who you are, what you like and don’t like, and what “floats your boat” so to speak.*

No matter what, you are good.

You are a rare, one of a kind gift to the world and releasing your most authentic self is the key to seeing it blossom.

Now, our ensuing behaviors can certainly be bad, good, and otherwise, but the message is that at your core – your passions, desires, likes/dislikes, etc are what make you the magical creature you really are. Embrace your light and your shadow.

But how does this pertain to your business?

Well, in the story of IN-N-Out Burger Vs. McDonalds we see how that commitment to tapping into self plays out.

Harry and Esther Snyder, the founders of In-N-Out, were dedicated to great customer service. They understood clearly if that was truly to be a top priority, it would require happy, well-compensated employees who stayed on the team and bought into the vision of the company. Over these years, they have seen and continue to see phenomenal growth.

McDonalds was built from the beginning to be fast, cheap, and everywhere.  Automation, minimum wage, and successful franchising were the answers and produced phenomenal success that reflects their original goal.

You see, as much as I dislike McDonalds because of how I feel after I eat it, there is nothing wrong with their model.

It’s a model built by people who believed in the worthiness of that model.

A model that was always true for them and became true for the world.

So, where does our ethical obligation to the world come in, one might ask?

Well, that’s only answered by tapping into Self.  Only you can decide what you feel your moral and ethical obligations are to the world you share community with.

Some people feel a great connection to others and some, honestly, don’t.  That’s okay.

Everyone doesn’t have to be a people person.

But if you’re not, are you being honest with yourself about that? Are you in a profession where that either won’t work against you or may even work for you? Are you being honest about the source of that and whether there’s anything in you that needs healing? Or is it just your personality type?

For me, I feel strongly about how my work impacts the people that it touches – from employees and contractors to vendors, clients, and their customers/clients.

Knowing that helps me make decisions about which corners I will or won’t cut, who I will or won’t work with and what projects are a fit or not for my business.

I also know that I don’t really want to work with a lot of people on an every-day-of-our-lives basis.  As an empath and an introvert that can be a very draining life for me to maintain.

A third (and 4th) high priority goal I have for my business is to make a certain amount of money and live a certain lifestyle.

That’s an okay part of what I want from my business activities. It’s also okay if it’s not your goal.

The key is being honest with yourself so that what you build is the most authentic expression of you, even within the constraints of factors you can’t control.

So, back to this “customer is always right” dilemma. true or false?

True. But YOU should pick your customer and you should determine what the (multiple) acceptable options are based on what you truly want, not what is expected, easy, or most comfortable.

LET the customer be right by creating an environment that is structured enough to guide them, flexible enough to include them, and strong enough to be successful for the long run because it’s built on you having tapped into your true self when you built it.

Self is just one of the 10 Hart Habits™ I use to advise clients of Infused Operations, and it’s key to a love-infused life and business.

Want to see if we can help you and your business?  Schedule a Free, no-obligation call with us today and let’s discuss what in your business is stressing you out right now.

*Obviously, I’m never referring to activities or behaviors that would infringe on the rights of others.