As a child, I (Michael) always knew I wanted to own a business one day. From standing in front of the local convenience store with my first shoe shining kit, to mowing neighbors’ lawns, I was always trying to make a buck. I even told my Sunday School teacher I wanted to become a ‘bachelor millionaire.'

Do you look forward to going to work each day? Do you leave work feeling hopeful and fulfilled? As a business leader or manager of your company, if you don’t, then your employees probably don’t either. And if you do, have you checked with your employees to see if they feel the same way? A huge part of building a Passion and Provision company is creating a space where your employees feel safe, engaged, heard and valued. A place where they can actually have fun while also doing good work and finding fulfillment in their contribution.

When you walk through the doors at the Bubble, three things become very clear...

1. Environment

The first is that you have entered the workplace of visionaries, who decorate with drum sets and antique candy dispensers, (which I might add, are surprisingly comforting to the nervous interview candidate). The creatively charged environment speaks seamlessly to the culture of a Passion and Provision^® company. One that aims to engage anybody who walks through the door to dream big, pay attention to detail, and to think outside the bubble. Here, there is the inevitable promise that work can be fun, stories can be told, and businesses can grow.

Work is not supposed to be something we endure so we can get a paycheck to pay for fulfillment in life. Work is supposed to be part of that fulfillment. Finding a job that allows you to achieve happiness more than 50% of the time takes a while to find. Many people don’t ever find it because they remain lost in understanding the gifts and abilities they have to contribute.

We love all of our clients, but one that is especially dear to our hearts is The Hignell Companies, a full service property management company. We’ve been helping Hignell with small business marketing for many years now and have developed a trusting relationship with the decision makers of the company. Back in 2010 or so, the team decided that the marketing for the apartment rental properties Hignell manages needed some new life of its own. When we found that the URL LivinginChico.com was available, we snatched it up and Living in Chico, a local apartment rental site launched by The Hignell Companies was born!

Losing credibility of your business, your brand, and even in your name can happen over a long period of time, but with these four ways, your brand will lose credibility fast!

Here’s how:

1. Don’t do what you say you are going to do. Promise the moon but don’t even get your customer out of the stratosphere.

When owning a business that offers a service or product, you have to build trust with your customers and future customers. One extremely important aspect of doing this is having and building credibility. Credibility can seem to be a bit abstract at times, with everyone having a different idea of what it means. In this blog you will learn exactly what credibility is when it comes to business and the four core pieces that are required to build credibility.

Companies rise and fall on good leadership. Depending on the quality of the leader and the values of the leader, both of those together radically impact the company. The efficiency, culture, direction and ultimately the success of the company depend on the leadership. That’s why it’s so important to know the aspects that are required for good leadership so that you can implement them in your company successfully. 

We all love to be inspired. It is in our nature as human beings. We want to have that fire in our being that give us the motivation to do better and to be better. I am going to give you an example to show how you too can inspire your employees within your business culture. But how do we create that spark in other people? Where do we find this inspiration? The answer is simple. Inspiration can be found everywhere.

Now that is it 2015, let’s take a look at your New Year’s resolutions.The Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2014 is culture, which is no surprise being that it is becoming more popular in the business world. When you look at your successful business, do you see a business that has an environment that engages employees and nurtures relationships while focusing on passion and provision? These aspects of business can easily be thrown on the back burner and neglected.