Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
To grow your business, you need to keep value flowing towards you. Value represents many things, including the solutions your product or service offers the marketplace, building relationships and getting paid. The problem is, many factors can limit your ability to continue to receive that value. It’s common, for example, for political climates, environmental disasters and changes in the economy to limit the flow of value to your company.
For example, in 2022, there were 18 separate weather and climate-related disasters in the U.S. costing at least $1 billion. Consider, too, that if you are investing in the stock market, your value could drastically change if there is a shift in the political climate. One study found that there’s a significant link between political instability and stock market performance. With elections on the horizon, it is understandable to be concerned.
For your business to continue to receive value in some form, even in changing circumstances, you need to ensure the company continues to provide value relevant to the situation and context. That takes thinking outside of the box.
As the CEO of Idoneus, I know firsthand how challenging it is to stay on top of the game, developing new ideas to drive value like this. One thing I know for sure is that if you want to demonstrate your value and stay relevant and irreplaceable to those providing value to you, you need to change the landscape.
To develop a stronger flow of value to you, implement these strategies.
Related: The Value Economy — How to Master the Game of Wealth in a Changing World
1. Develop and incorporate a value-first mindset
The most obvious way of gaining value from others is to be paid. You are selling something from your company, sharing your wisdom, liquidating investments or even gaining an inheritance. People are paying you, and there is an exchange of value for your offer.
However, instead of focusing your mindset on receiving value, turn that around. Focus on having a value-first mindset. This means that you lead with the value you offer rather than the value you receive. It’s a game-changer.
For example, if your company sells a product, provide your most likely customers with all of the information they need within that industry. It’s not just about offering a sale price on your item, but rather giving away all of that free but valuable information that goes far beyond what you offer. Anticipate all their FAQs, objections and information they are likely to need in advance of making an educated purchase. Think for the customer before they become one, making their lives easier in advance of the sale. It creates a buy-in for the customer. It builds trust, and trust forms valuable long-term relationships.
That doesn’t mean you act as a sacrificial lamb or that you have to give everything to those who provide value to you. Instead, set and hold your boundaries.
What’s different is that you’re investing genuinely in how you’re benefiting other people. Instead of pulling every dollar from them, you’re focused on how you can support and help. By proving your value in this simple way, you can become irreplaceable to those who are paying you.
2. Build your social currency
You’ve heard it many times before. Who you know matters. If you lack a social network for any reason, or your social network isn’t helping you to pull in value in some form, it’s time to make some changes. You need to build your social currency.
Relationships matter in many forms. Ask these questions:
Who is in your network right now?
Who will go to bat for you?
Who could those individuals introduce you to that could be valuable to you or them?
Who within your network knows someone who might be interested in the latest asset, product or service that you’re selling?
There’s immense value in genuine connections. When you build these strong relationships, those people will move mountains to deliver value to the people they care about — and that could be you.
To increase the flow of value to you, then, you need to work consistently at building and nurturing these relationships. Take steps to reach out to people, ask for introductions, research who your current network knows, and then go further.
For example, host a podcast or a webinar. Or go further and host a local seminar, workshop or immersion and act as the speaker. Facilitate introductions between the speakers or sponsors to cultivate their network and solidify your own. Consider sponsoring an award ceremony that recognizes noteworthy individuals you would like to know. That builds your reputation and social currency while also working to build your network.
Related: Social Currency and Your Circle of Influence
3. Consider the value of asset trading
In a tumultuous situation, many people do the knee-jerk action of selling. In my industry working with high net worth leaders, this often looks like divesting of assets, such as art, jewelry, real estate portfolios or businesses. Selling products/services or divesting assets certainly can free up cash. However, selling isn’t the only option, and sometimes it is the worst step you can take. Consider instead the strategy of trading value.
Trading reduces the friction of sales. It helps to shorten the timeline of the process, and it allows you to move into the exact new form of value you want sooner. It seems counterintuitive, but trading can often outperform selling as a frictionless value-for-value exchange.
The key limitation of this strategy is debt. Debt makes it much harder to trade as banks don’t want to move collateral. Debt often kills these trades because an appraiser will get involved, and that means you may have a person who doesn’t understand your assets or other forms of value that they have never owned making core decisions about their value. It simply does not work. Debt-free trades are straightforward and can be highly beneficial.
Ultimately, your goal is to build value with others through the products and services or assets that you hold; to do that, you need to minimize leverage and increase the value and benefit of the assets you possess. By trading away those assets that are no longer meeting your goals and expectations, it’s possible to move directly into other assets that offer the objectives and value that you do need.
In my book, Billions Under Pressure: The Art and Science of Creating, Exchanging and Protecting Value, I explore the ways that you can focus your efforts on building better streams of value to exchange. Value exchange today builds off an age-old concept of bartering but positions it for the 21st century. In your business, it is fundamental to the success of the company; that you can exchange money for your products and services, but you could also exchange your knowledge, introductions, your expertise or even tangible property.
Related: How Proving My Value Helped Me Reshape the Face of High-Value Asset Trading Globally
At times, it may seem counterintuitive to simply trade one form of value for another, but when you learn this process, you’ll be able to develop stronger streams of value on a consistent basis. For example, if you operate a debt-free, cash-flowing real estate portfolio as a business, but you are worried about the real estate landscape in the coming years, you could trade this asset to someone who has the expertise to manage it in this environment as an exchange of value for a portfolio of businesses, rare art, precious metals, or even music labels or patents. There are no limits to the options achievable through value exchange. Thinking differently ensures the flow of value continues in any market.
Shift your mindset instead to always consider the trade of currently owned high-value assets for those you desire, and you will very often end up preserving value in ways the traditional sale process may not. This vital and often overlooked skill could be the key differentiator in your business growth and long-term success.
