What is a "Stand" and why should you care?

2020 fortified what we stand for and 2021 is certainly testing just how much.

There's little debate on how much 2020 impacted our lives and for so many people, was the worst of times. And while we've returned to some of our normal and established new norms in 2021, everything still seems to be impacted by the events of last year. Health, politics, family – society at large – are still not stable and there's a lot of uncertainty and trauma most people are still navigating.

When Afrin & I started Red Elephant, we wanted out of the corporate world. We wanted financial freedom and choice. We wanted control, and we saw entrepreneurship as the vehicle that could give us those things. Now, more than ever, we're so grateful we made the decision to venture out on our own.

But those weren’t the main reasons we started Red Elephant.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you didn’t start your business just to make money. You started your business because you have a vision of how you want the world to be.

You started your business because you know there is a difference that you can make in the world, and you saw the business as the catalyst that could ignite that change.

We call that your “Stand.”

What does “stand” mean?

It’s that situation, person or thing in the world you can't help but think about. It's the thing that moves you or pisses you off that you obsess over. You lose sleep about.

Your stand is the one thing on Earth that you can no longer do nothing about. It’s something you dedicate your life to. It’s what makes you do what you do and be who you are.

And it’s the most important ingredient in the recipe for a thriving business.

Here's why:

Successful businesses aren’t successful simply because they have good marketing, great customer service, or a solid sales team. Successful businesses are successful because they know how to create a movement. Successful movements are rooted in powerful stands. Movements create raving fans. Raving fans turn into leads. Leads turn into clients and when your stands align, those clients become leaders of the movement both by championing yours and leading their own.

Would you rather have a client roster full of people that sort-of believe in what you do, or a group of clients that are excited about what you’re creating and can’t wait to share it with their friends? Would you rather have clients that buy a product or a program for you once or maybe twice, or clients that stay committed and loyal for years and even promote you to their networks?

What if you started every business conversation connecting to the reasons you started your business, and not just thinking about the next sale or the next big opportunity to make money? What if in those conversations, you got your clients authentically connected to why they started their businesses and completely connected to their stands? How would that change your business? How would it change their businesses?

To do so, here are some questions we recommend asking yourself on a regular basis…