MBA2054 Is Being Liked Important in Business?

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Hey oh. Welcome to the 100 MBA show where you learn to hustle smarter, not just harder. Every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my co founder back in 2014. And in today's lesson you will learn. Is being liked important in business? Is being a likable person, somebody that makes a good impression? Being somebody that's interesting, fun and even lovable? Is this a important or is that all a bunch of baloney? And you don't really need to worry about that as long as your business and your product is solid. Well, that's what we get into in today's lesson. We're living in an age where everybody's got a personal brand and many of us are really worried about how people perceive us, what people think of us. Is this a valid concern or is this just an anxiety inducing habit? I have some pretty strong opinions when it comes to this topic and my opinions might surprise you. I recently discussed this on Twitter and a lot of people kinda agreed with me, but some just didn't. We're gonna discuss it in today's lesson, so let's get into it. Let's get down to business.

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It important to be liked when it comes to entrepreneurship? Well, let's establish something first. If you have a personal brand, if you're the face of your business in any way, meaning if you do public interviews, whether they're on podcasts or video interviews, if you speak on stages at conferences, if you're on your website or your videos or your materials or your content, if you write blog posts, if you're on social media and you're the the spokesperson of your business or brand, it is my strong opinion that it is actually very important for you to be liked. And I'll define what I mean by liked in a moment. And I'm kind of using this term kind of loosely, but if you're obnoxious, annoying, or even just flat out unemotional like, you just don't resonate with people, you're going to have a hard time building a personal brand. Why? Because people are going to resonate with you whatever you come off as. This is why a lot of big companies that we know and hear about every single day, their leaders, their CEOs, their founders are really in the background. They're not the spokesperson for the company because they just are not likable. On the other hand, there's a lot of big brands where the spokesperson, the founder, the CEO of that company, the face of the company, is outspoken, is on stages, is doing interviews, and is a big part of the success. They're like the asset of the business. They're like the main asset or the main marketing asset for the business. A good example of this is Elon Musk and Tesla. But it's not just physical products. If your business is in the media or creates content and you're the face of the content, then being liked is actually quite important. Think Oprah Winfrey. Think Joe Rogan, right? The podcast host or any popular actor. If they're not likable, then there's a good chance they're not going to see their content, they're not going to consume their content. So take a look at your business. Are you the face of the business? Are you creating content for the business? Are you a content creator? Do you create courses or books. If this is the case, and you're not just hiding behind the brand of your business or the product of your business, you need to work on your likability. This is just PR101. Now, what I found is that a lot of the founders that struggle with this, it's not like they're mean people or even obnoxious. They're just unaware of the fact that they have to make an effort to be pleasant. Often, by default, they're not smiling. And that's where I want to start. Many people ask me, hey, how can I have a better personal brand? How can I get people to be attracted to my brand or attracted to me and what I represent? And one of the things I tell them is that you should start by smiling. And they're just shocked by that simple advice. But I can't tell you how many people I've seen give interviews, do webinars, give speeches, present on sales videos, and they don't crack a smile. Smiling is contagious. When you smile, the other person will tend to smile, and that makes them feel good. And that's really what you're trying to do here, is associate good feelings with you and your brand. It's very hard not to like somebody if they make you smile. So be conscious of what your face looks like when you are presenting. I know this sounds very simple, but it is. But it doesn't mean it's easy to implement. You have to smile. Number two, one of the easiest ways to be liked is not to take yourself so seriously. Poke a little fun at yourself. Be courageous enough to make a few jokes here and there. People love a sense of humor. A sense of humor is one of the most attractive traits in another person. A prime example of this is Ryan Reynolds. Yes, he's a famous actor, but he's also an entrepreneur, and he does his own commercials for his own businesses. In fact, one of his businesses, Mint Mobile, is one of our sponsors today. That's coming up a little bit later. But the point I'm making here is that Ryan, when he does his commercials, he's smiling. He uses his sense of humor. He doesn't take himself too seriously, and therefore, he's just a likable guy. And something happens in the brain. What happens is you watch one of his commercials and you're like, wow, Ryan seems like a cool guy. I like this guy. I'm going to try out what he's saying. What is he saying? Mint Mobile, let's check it out. Or whatever. He's Selling that is not by accident. I am sure Ryan Reynolds and other people like him are conscious of the fact, hey, if people kind of like me, they're going to like what I say and they're going to want to check me out, check out what I have to offer. Being a likable person or working on it is a superpower really because it can help you really get traction, especially at the beginning of your business's journey. You're trying to get your first customers, you're trying to get some momentum. And if you're willing to be nice and kind and approachable and have a smile on your face when you're making sales calls or reaching out to people to ask them if they want to try out your new product or service or presenting from stage or in a meetup or even within your own mastermind group, people are going to say, hey, what the heck, let me try this person out. Let me try what they have. It's so much easier to get a yes when you have an attitude like that. Now, the opposite is also very true. I remember one time early in my entrepreneurial journey, I was shopping around for a hosting provider and I was at a conference and one of the hosting provider founders was really mean to me, was actually quite aggressively mean and rude. Now this is a well known company. I really respect the company. The product is fantastic, A lot of people that I respect use it. But I never forgot that moment, the way that person carried themselves, the way they treated me. And when I look back at it, I actually don't think they meant to be mean, but they just came off as mean because they were not making an effort to be likable and pleasant. And I never forgot that moment. And it's going to take a lot for me to change my mind about using that service ever in my life. I'll probably spend more money somewhere else before I choose that service because the bad taste in my mouth is still there. That's how powerful a bad impression can be of on others.

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It feels good to geico. Now, being liked or trying to be liked doesn't mean you have to be fake or be something you're not or even to pander to people just means being aware that being nice, being pleasant, being positive, being encouraging, being a good person matters. It actually makes an impact. And for most of us, that just means being ourselves and being okay with. With being ourselves publicly. I have no time for people that are not kind, and I'm very public about that. If you're mean or you're nasty or you're rude on social media, I will not follow you. I will not associate with you. I will not participate with you. Even if I respect you, it doesn't mean that you're not doing a great job or running a great business. I just don't want to socialize with you because life is too short for that. That's my philosophy. I want to surround myself with kind, nice, polite, positive people because I know that if I do that, that I will be positive. I will be kind. I will feel like that's the standard, and that'll be a reflection of who I am. And when I talk, when I speak, when I conduct myself online, that will shine through. And I want to be known and liked for those reasons, for those values, because they're universal. Because somebody can disagree with. With my takes, with my ideas, maybe my advice on business, but they can't say I'm rude, unkind, or mean. Even when I give tough love, I like to sandwich it with kindness because I know that that will be my brand. What people say about me is my brand. That will be my legacy. That's what people will remember me for. So be conscious of what you put out there and how you present yourself to the world. Thanks so much for listening to the $100 NBA show. If you love what you hear, hit subscribe and leave us a rating and review. You can leave us ratings now on Spotify. You're listening on Spotify right now. Go ahead and give us a rating. Just hit follow and hit the rating button. If you're on Apple podcasts, go ahead and leave us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from every one of you, and it's a great way for you to support the show. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. If you're kind, if you're mindful of who you are and how you're representing your company, you make it a whole lot easier for your teammates to work for you. For your employees to respect you. You will attract people that are good and great and don't want to deal with hassles. If you're that kind of person, you'll have retention. People will stay with you longer. Kindness and being mindful of how you treat other people and keeping the harmony in your business is important. It's going to solve a lot of problems. It's going to prevent a lot of issues. It's going to be the glue that keeps your team together. Because how you act is the culture of your company. Thank you so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. Q and A Wednesday. I'll see you then. Take care. Of.

We've all been there. You hold on to a coupon, hoping to cash it in at the store. But then you forget about it and suddenly you've got a mountain of useless expired coupons.

Do you think this one's still good? Free milk.

Oh, mate, that expired in 1993.

Dang it.

Fortunately, there are better ways to save money. Like by switching to Geico. You could save about 900 on car insurance without ever touching a coupon.

Ooh, how about this one? Half off floppy dis.

Now you should try a bit of spring cleaning.

It feels good to save big.

It feels good to Geico.