Build business value like a badass

Read time: 2 mins

Hey there!

What does it actually take to be a badass?

According to Brené Brown, it’s this:

“People who choose courage over comfort, accountability over blame, and learning over shame are the real badasses.”

And I love this because it makes accountability feel less like a punishment and more like a strength.

If you don’t know Brené Brown, she’s a researcher, author and speaker who has spent decades studying leadership, with a focus on courage, accountability and learning.

Her work is both profound and very practical if you own a business.

Because building a more valuable business requires all three of those things.

Courage, because you have to make decisions that might feel uncomfortable.

Accountability, because at some point you have to stop blaming the market, the team, the economy, the clients, or “how busy things have been” and ask, “What is my role in changing this?”

And learning, because you are going to get things wrong, and the goal is to learn from it, not hide from it.

This is the final article in our ‘build a more valuable business’ series, and it’s the most important one.

We’ve talked about predictable revenue, healthy margins, reducing reliance on you, smart tech and automation, and systems and reporting. You can read the full series here.

But none of those levers move unless the owner does.

So today we’re talking about the biggest value lever of all, you.

How you lead, how you decide, how you respond when things are not working, and how willing you are to get the help you need to build a business that is more valuable, more profitable and better to run.

Let’s dive in.

How to build business value like a badass, the Brené Brown way

1. Choose courage over comfort

Building a more valuable business usually means making decisions that feel uncomfortable.

• Raising prices
• Letting go of low-value work
• Having the hard conversation with a team member
• Admitting the business is too dependent on you
• Investing in support before you feel completely ready
• Changing something that has been “fine” for years, but is clearly not getting you where you want to go

Comfort is very tempting.

It tells you to leave things for another month, avoid the awkward conversation, keep the underperforming offer, and tell yourself things will probably improve soon.

Very convenient.

Very rarely useful.

Courage is what lets you look at the business honestly and make the decision that will create better results, even if it feels uncomfortable at first.

Ask yourself:

What decision have I been avoiding because it feels uncomfortable?

2. Choose accountability over blame

There will always be external factors:

• The economy
• The market
• Your team
• Your competitors
• The cost of everything
• Clients being weird

All real. All relevant.

But if those become the full explanation for why the business is not as valuable, profitable or enjoyable as you want it to be, you give away your power to change anything.

Accountability does not mean everything is your fault.

It means you are willing to ask a better question.

Not “Who can I blame?”
But “What can I do next?”

Not “The market is quiet.”
But “Do we need to sharpen the offer?”

Not “The team keeps dropping the ball.”
But “Have we trained them properly and made expectations clear?”

Not “Clients are too hard to close.”
But “Do we need to get better at sales?”

Not “The business is too busy to fix this.”
But “What process needs tightening first?”

Not “I don’t know why profit is low.”
But “Am I looking at the numbers often enough?”

Not “I just don’t have time.”
But “Where do I need help, support or accountability?”

That is where progress starts.

Ask yourself:

Where am I blaming something external instead of owning the next step?

3. Choose learning over shame

Every business owner makes mistakes:

• Wrong hires
• Bad pricing
• Messy systems
• Clients you should never have said yes to
• Marketing that did absolutely nothing, except build character
• Leadership moments you would prefer not to replay in your head at 2am

Welcome to the club.

The goal is not to never get anything wrong.

That would be lovely, but also deeply unrealistic.

The goal is to learn faster.

Shame says, “I’m bad at this.”

Learning says, “What did this teach me?”

Shame makes you hide the problem.

Learning helps you fix it.

And if you want to build a more valuable business, you need to be able to look at what is not working without turning it into a personal disaster.

Ask yourself:

What mistake or result do I need to learn from, instead of feeling embarrassed about?

⭐ Bottom line

Taking ownership does not mean doing everything alone.

In fact, one of the strongest things you can do as a business owner is recognise where you need help and actually get it.

Because building a more valuable business takes courage, accountability and learning.

But it also takes support.

Get the help.

Do the work.

Build the business value you actually want.

And if you want help identifying the biggest opportunities to increase the value of your business, get in touch.

We’re here to help.

Speak soon,

Lynne & Steve

P.S.

Next week, we’re starting a new series on how to get your business ready for sale, even if selling still feels a long way off. Because the best time to build a sale-ready business is well before someone asks, “So, what’s it worth?”

Very relaxing question, obviously.

 

 

TLDR

• Building business value starts with ownership.
• That means:
  • choosing courage over comfort
  • choosing accountability over blame
  • choosing learning over shame
• And remembering that taking responsibility does not mean doing everything alone.
• Get the help. Do the work. Build the business value you actually want.

And if you want help with this, check out our Business Consulting services page, or get in touch with us here.

 

P.P.S.

Know someone who’d get value from this? Feel free to forward it on, it might be exactly what they need to hear right now. 😉