Judging a business by its appearance
If nothing else, someone at this establishment had an eye for sign design. (John Margolies)
The Internet has made it possible to voyeuristically peer into the virtual shop windows of businesses.
Like insecure teenagers, it's all too easy to get our composure rattled by someone else's polished and perfected web presence.
Wandering around in search of inspiration too often results in demoralization instead. Of course, we already know that however attractive and successful a person may seem, that is only part of the story. They have failures and frustrations just like we do.
With a brand, an additional dimension comes into play: Anyone can hire a team to make them look great. That’s why I t makes no sense to approach a business the way we might approach a high school rival. We are seeing the results of an investment decision.
When we judge someone else's business based on its appearance, we may well be distracted by all of the wrong metrics. We are seeing evidence of what they value, and we don't know what compromises they may be making to highlight the elements they do.
A brand might have a beautiful Instagram gallery and no profit. The owner might be working eighty hours a week. There might be an entire fleet of professionals curating the feed you see.
It's true that investing heavily in social media is no guarantee that you will have an appealing brand and a strong following, but it certainly helps. Some people have the gift of making it look easy and effortless. It's still not. It takes time and energy. In business, that always translates to money.
A website and social media presence are places that a business owner could invest, and they could always invest more. That doesn't mean that they have to. They might instead focus on ensuring that their business is profitable, their service delivery is high quality, their processes and systems are strong, and so on. Resources are limited.
Only you can determine what you value most and what you choose to invest in. It may be that you do prefer the optics of having a nice big social media following. If you’re a business owner in a particular niche, it may be necessary. But that doesn't mean it's necessary for everyone.
The same goes for a beautiful website. Websites take maintenance. If you'd like to spend a lot of time in that realm, go right ahead. But it's okay if you choose to spend your time and money elsewhere.
If what's standing between you and satisfaction with your business is a pretty website and being popular on social media, you wouldn't be alone in that. But that's not what's standing between you and having a successful business. To have a successful business, all you need to do is make a profit doing something that helps others. Beyond that, you get to choose the metrics that you care about and focus on.
From a person's social media following or website, you can't tell whether they have a profitable business. You can't tell if they are just getting by, working themselves into a hole, or putting up with all kinds of other circumstances that you would find unacceptable.
Life is full of trade-offs. We each get to choose the ones that we are willing to make. You might sacrifice sleep for work, whereas I'm not willing to do that.
And you might be invested in social media for its own sake. I'm not going to tell you that there's anything wrong with that. However, there's nothing wrong with not doing that.
Satisfaction in business comes from making your choices mindfully and intentionally. If you want to invest heavily in having a beautiful, Pinterest-worthy website and social media presence, go for it. If you don't, make the decision and don't look back. You've got more important things to do.
