If you’re a regular listener to That Bad Review, you know I value the importance of paying it forward in my business. Whether it’s hosting a charity event, finding a good NGO to support or just trying to be a better person in general, there’s so many ways that you can use your company to contribute positively to the world.
The latest episode of the podcast featured Paul Dunn, chairman of B1G1, noted speaker and host of the Global Impact Summit. Paul is an incredibly inspiring character, and we had a great chat about what it means to do good in your business.
This is obviously something you could devote your entire life to pursuing, but here are a few ways you can make a difference today.
Attach Your Business to a Good Cause
B1G1’s speciality is helping businesses contribute to charitable causes with every item or service they sell — 10 cents of every cup of coffee a cafe sells goes to a charity of their choice, for example.
Setting up a system that automatically contributes to a good cause is a great way to take any confusion out of charitable donations. You can also use your position of influence as a business to promote the charity and spread their message.
Show Customers You Care
This one is something you could start doing right away. Unfortunately, humans can be a little bit too transactional in their daily interactions. Forgetting to greet employees at your grocery store, or just to simply thank them, is all too common. It may sound superfluous, but you’d be surprised at how much a smile or thanks can lift someone’s spirits during the day.
Paul told me a story about a facility he stayed at that, after noticing that he was a big consumer of cappuccinos, offered him a free cappuccino during his next stay. It was a small gesture that took little to no effort, but one that Paul will likely remember for a long time. Just showing that you view someone as a person, rather than just another transaction, is something we can all do a little bit more.
Exercise Gratitude
There’s a lot of scientific evidence that links gratitude and happiness. People who look at what they do have, rather than focus on what they don’t have, are healthier, happier and much more fun to be around.
You can do some simple exercises any day to strengthen your gratitude muscle. Every day for a week, or a month or even longer, write down five things on a piece of paper that you’re grateful for.
A lot of people believe that happiness and goodness come down to choices that we make. Whether you subscribe to that idea or not, there’s still a lot you can do within your business and personal life to make a positive influence in the world around you.
Listen to my entire conversation with Paul here.