No more funny business! Are you sure?
In reality, adding more fun to how you approach and operate your business will significantly enhance it – for you and your customers.
This isn’t about laughing all the way, more like appreciating every event, relationship, failure, and situation for what it is – a way to connect the dots to new and better opportunities.
This includes both successes and failures.
My friend, colleague, and humor coach Ron Culberson just published a book that will help you to be more successful in your work, and happier with life in general
I’ll be honest, Do It Well. Make It Fun surprised me. This book is indeed funny, but more importantly, its honest and practical in its applications.
This ten minute video conversation with Ron Culberson and the following three takeaways from Do It Well. Make It Fun. The Key to Success in Life, Death, and Almost Everything in Between will provide some valuable insights for making your business and personal life better.
#1 – Humor is Personal
Reading a few chapters of Do it Well, Make it Fun will instantly gave you a new perspective. It made me more aware of everything I do, especially in the present moment – and we all know that is where our actions for being more successful are most vital.
More specifically, it made my work more personal by freeing me up to just be who I am, instead of who I think my readers want me to be. At the time I was struggling with the content for my monthly newsletter, so I scrapped two hours of work and simply started again with a fresh mindset.
The second version was not only fun to write, but it connected with my subscribers. I received several request to republish that information, which of course is not only a compliment, but the goal of any content creator who wants to be introduced to a wider audience.
What’s the takeaway?
Humor is personal to you, so getting in touch with it brings out the most essential qualities that resonate with your audience or customers.
#2 – Humor is Energizing
Any activity is easier when you are enjoying the process, that is, when it’s not like work at all. As Ron notes in his book:
All work and no play is, well, work!
I know there are some that say there is a reason they call it work, but it just doesn’t have to be that way. Work can actually be energizing.
How many of us are passionate about our work until we start running into more obstacles than opportunities? Isn’t this the reason most small business owners throw in the towel – because its not fun anymore? We call that burnout, because there is no longer an energy that feeds the flames.
When you look on the lighter side you learn to use humor to keep or get your activities on track – everything moving in the right direction.
While this may indeed involve work, it’s much better than allowing everything to slowly devolve into a complete mess.
Small business owners that take pride in their work are especially guilty of losing sight of the energizing passion that is responsible for their current success.
Humor helps you remember that, which leads to our third takeaway.
#3 – Humor is Memorable
When you fully engage with something, and better yet, make it personal – you make it memorable, and that happens to be a key success criteria for any business.
Concurrent with reading reading Do it Well, Make it Fun, I’m also reading Total Memory Makeover, by Marilu Henner, the actress who happens to be one of only a dozen people in the world with HSAM – Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory. That is to say, she can remember what she was doing every day in her life with extraordinary detail.
Ms Henner makes the point that a lot of people want to forget about the past to block out the bad things (which unfortunately does the same for the good as well).
The smart thing is to remember and reflect on all of your experiences so that you can build on the good and learn from the mistakes.
That is precisely what Ron Culberson does with his honest recollection of his life encounters, with the application of humor lubricating the learning process.
Right there is the secret to how humor can make your business better? What is it?
Humor is humanizing.
In our increasingly social society, that’s a quality that will successfully engage your business with the communities it serves.
As Ron comments in the video above, your stories humanize your business by connecting them with the stories of your customers.
And that makes it memorable.
How about you? Are you using humor to connect with your customers?
Let us know how in a comment below – or simply share this with your communities using the share buttons below so that they can participate in the conversation.
Until next time, Jeff
