How Important are Core Values, Really?

Welcome to She's Crafted to Thrive. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and this show is for all the ladies who are making and creating things that they love. You will hear conversations about the real everyday struggles of juggling life and business while trying to maintain passion and harmony. As women, we have the skill of getting things done, but sometimes we get in our own way. It's here where you'll see that you're not alone. You'll discover that success does not mean perfection. Fear and negative thoughts Challenges are all a part of the journey, and on this podcast you'll find the inspiration and tools you need to have a life and business that thrives.

Okay ladies, it is Thursday evening and I am recording my podcast, this solo cast, from my bed and puppy girl. Yes, I have a new puppy and she is fast asleep because she is tuckered out. I'm super excited about this episode because I believe many of us struggle with this particular aspect of things. I know when I first started my digital marketing business way back when online, and I was working with photographers, or when I had my trunk shows and would work with creative entrepreneurs, one of the biggest things that I noticed then and I notice now is how to be authentic. How to show up as yourself. And honestly, it's a question that I get often. Matter of fact, I was just asked to be on a podcast episode featuring how to build authenticity through your story and branding for your business on a podcast called Feel Good Social, which our episode will air in September. And she asked me, what are some ways that people can show up and know that they're being authentic. And I find this conversation actually really interesting because I don't think I ever thought about showing up online, um, as not being authentic or as not being myself or as not representing the things that I really believe in. But I can see why, and I have seen why it can be difficult, because I've mentioned this before, as a creative entrepreneur, we're so busy with the craft or the item or the product or service that we do. We're so focused and we're so talented at that that we kind of detach our personality inwardly, um, out of the actual business, if that makes any sense. So if, let's say for example, if you're a photographer, you probably feel that you are great at taking images, you're a great editor, you are great at manipulating light, um, whatever the case may be when it comes to photography, and that's what your clients love about you. And so maybe at a time, or maybe even currently, you just really posted things about your, your photography. Like, you really posted your images, you posted things that you talked about that wasn't you in those images. And I feel like from a creative standpoint, we don't want to be the center of attention. We don't want to be in front of the camera. We want to be behind the camera. We don't want, um, all the attention to ourselves. We would much, much rather prefer someone else to take the spotlight, um, because it's like, that's a little too personal. And that's where I think a lot of people struggle. Like, how do you share authentically about you, your brand, um, and your business in a way that doesn't feel like I'm telling all my business, right? Like, how do you do this? And I know everybody will vary, and that's what I've said this before, I think, in the show. Um, and this is what I say to my clients. First and foremost, you have to decide what you're most comfortable with in general about sharing to the public. But the other thing you also have to realize is that social media is a place for social interaction, which means people are sharing their stories, they are sharing their experiences, they are sharing information that relates to circumstances that are happening to them and around them. And so to approach social media without that in mind, you're going to have issues. Like, you're totally going to have issues with showing up authentically. But one really great way to kind of nip this in the bud, and this is going to be a brief episode, is to figure out what your 3 core values are. Like, literally, as a person and as a business. Sometimes these are exactly the same and sometimes they are not. And so I have a kind of like a worksheet um, PDF document, or whatever you would say, that you can check out in my free Facebook group called Craft Your Clarity Collective. Inside the group, you will find a, um, in the unit section, um, how to discover your core values little worksheet. And what I have found for myself, and I thought I would share what mine are so that maybe it might give you an idea of why this is so important in creating and feeling good about sharing things online in an authentic, real way without always having this tug of war, whether or not this is too much, is this not enough? What am I saying? Am I being fake? Is this really serving my clients? All those different things that we might have in our mind. So one of the things, one of my 3 core values is connection. Hello. What a surprise. I love to connect with people. Matter of fact, me doing a solo cast like this is actually really uncomfortable for me because I would much, much, much rather have a conversation with a woman or a person in general just to talk about their story and hear what they've gone through and figure out what tips they've done and then share other things that help my clients or help my people or things that I struggle with and and kind of coming together. And that's how I always have been. Like, you know, when I was growing up as a kid, people would call me like the mama bear, um, because I would just want to take care of everyone. Um, people would call me for advice. I didn't want them to call me for the advice, but it was just because I just love being there. I love being there to connect people to other people. Um, and I like it when it's real. So I'm not a very surface person. I love to go deep and dig deep and ask questions. And I feel— I'm a big feeler. Um, I, I feel like emotions like really rawly, like in a room I can, I can sense the, the uncomfortable or the joy or the happy. Um, I'm just like a people person, and I think that's just because I'm, I'm a huge connector. So that is for me personally, and that is totally and completely a huge and number one core value in my business. If you think about what I do as a business and mindset coach, connection literally is the foundation. Like, it's like one of the three pillars of the foundation, like connection. Like, I really thrive on being with people. And so how this serves me, knowing that connection is a big part of me, um, it's a big part or core value in my business and marketing is that when I create content, I know that I will be a storyteller of some sorts. I will be sharing experience, a feeling, um, or something that was said, or something that I really connected with, or someone else connected with. It just makes it easier for me to think of content, or it might be something that I heard or I listened to that I really connected to and made this this caption or this copy for my website or something like that, that really helps me solidify my message to serve my audience. So going to my second one, which is kind of like a tricky one because it's like serve love, which you would say, well, Nikita, that's two core values. I believe that they're actually one because I don't think you can have one without the other. So serve love. And I learned this actually in a coaching course that I have taken with some amazing coaches. And I love that because I, I truly believe that if you're going to do what you do and love what you do, um, and you, and you're going to be giving of yourself and you're going to be sharing and you're going to be learning and investing, and you want people to feel that in a real way, that love has to be there. And love motivates service. That's just how I feel. And so from that, I feel like in my business that's a huge piece. I mean, that's why I show up on podcasts. That's why I share my story. That's why I, um, am always wanting to hear from other women and their stories so that they can share it with the world, um, of the different people that might connect to what they do. So Serve Love really helps me, you know, say yes or no to certain opportunities, helps me to say yes or no to the space and the energy that I need in order to operate in that space. So it really does serve me really well in my business, and it also helps brand my business because when people go to my Instagram page or my Facebook page, mostly Instagram, because honestly, hey, I'm so way more active on Instagram. When people come to my Instagram, I make it a point a lot of the times, as much as possible— don't hold me to it for the last 2 weeks because puppy girl has taken over my life. But beyond that, I make it a point to connect and get on the DMs and ask people questions and answer questions. Offer my services in a sense of just being there, not asking for a sell, but literally offering a way to be a resource and connector to collaborate and all those different things. And then lastly, my last core set of 3 values is freedom. Many of you guys know that I deal with chronic illness, and having chronic illness means I need a little bit more freedom of my time. I need to have the flexibility to be in my bed at a quarter or 5 minutes till 12 to be doing work, or at 4 o'clock in the morning to be able to have, you know, some me spiritual time if I need to, because I didn't get it throughout the day because I was exhausted or in pain or something here or there. So I really do believe, um, freedom gives me the freedom and the flexibility to, um, do that. So my business works similar to that way. I make choices on how I show up and how my clients show up because I also feel like because freedom is important to me, it's also really important to my clients. A lot of clients started their own business, are looking for a side hustle, or have a side hustle, or have a full-time their own business so that they can have the freedom they want to spend more time with family, get rid of debt, to be more flexible in different situations in their life. So those are my 3 core values. What are yours? You're like, how do I just narrow down all of the things? In the exercise, one of the things that I share with you are, um, two boxes that have like at least 50 different adjective words that you can kind of look and lump sum them together. For example, there's one box that says hope, purpose, balance, drive, humility, um, and then, um, things like conviction, gratitude, openness, and understanding and cooperation, or happiness. Those are all adjectives and words that can help you start to kind of put in your head what, what words really connect with me? Like, which words do I like really feel? Maybe there are things that people automatically know about you or feel about you, or you always feel like you're thinking about them or saying all those things. Identifying what your core values are helps you know how you're going to show up online. When you know what they are, it becomes a lot easier to create content around what kind of people you want to serve, what kind of, um, product or service you want to sell, because you're coming from a place, a foundation place, a found— a fundamental place where you feel like a part of the things that you truly believe in are at the core of what you're doing, and it just makes it a lot easier. If you're on social media right now, or if you're somewhere, some way, shape, or form, like marketing your business, and you look at the things out there and you feel like, oh, or like you feel like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that I did that, or that feels weird, it's likely that you're out of alignment with your 3 core values, and it's okay. It's just time to figure out what those core values are. That is pretty much it. If you are listening to this episode and it sounds a little bit different and my voice sounds kind of funky, it's because I've been training a puppy and telling the puppy to sit, no bites, pee here, poop there, all the funny things like that. And so my voice is a little bit wonky this week, but I really do believe that if you can figure out what your core values are, your 3, and at the most 5, it will make it a lot easier for you to, um, identify how you're showing up currently and if you're in line with that, and if your audience sees that and feels that from you, and if you're not, how to, how to get that in line. So if you have any questions about this, please reach out to me at info@craftstothrive.com. I hope that this was helpful and definitely, definitely email me if you want that document, that worksheet on how to discover your core values. Now I'm talking about core values in this episode about like to make you feel better about how you're showing up authentically online. But this is just one aspect of what having your 3 core values can do for you and makes your business it makes you— your long-term goals very clear and understandable. Because if you're looking at them in the reflection of these 3 or 5 core values, you're better equipped to make quick and fast decisions. You're also more able to see where you're going in your business because you're identifying the things that really matter to where your mission and your core values lie. There are so many different things when it comes to values. If you want to know more about core values, I am currently taking on clients and customers— I'm currently taking on coaching clients and helping them figure out what is their true mission statement, what are their 3 core values, how can they truly implement them into their life and into their business in a way that feels real and authentic and it actually brings them closer to their financial and mental, their financial goals and their business goals, just in general, their mindset goals. So as always, please remember that yes, yes, yes, you are crafted to thrive.