[Business culture is imperative for entrepreneurs. Don’t sacrifice it just because you’ve only been in business for a short time. Read below to discover the 5 ways to build a solid business culture to attract customers and employees to your business].

The culture of any business is one of the most important things to have established from the beginning, way before you have clients or a team.

It creates a foundation for the type of workplace environment you want, even if you operate an online business.

Maybe you’re asking yourself, why is building a business culture so important?

Simply put, a company’s culture can potentially make or break the enterprise.

[Tweet “With the world watching, the perception of your brand and business is a big deal.”]

As the saying goes, people like to do business with those they know, like and trust.

However, without the presence of a company culture, the brand’s image and reputation suffers, and few will have you on their list to work with you or buy from you.

When businesses shy away from investing in their culture for long periods of time, in both time and money, consequences can be detrimental to its growth.

So how can you begin to build your culture and create a reputation that attracts your ideal customer and team?

Let’s jump in and look at five points that focus on developing a culture that you can create and nurture!

#1 Be clear on your core values

Be very clear on what those values are.

Maybe your values include a company of integrity, innovation, creativity, strong customer service, fun atmosphere, and open communications.

Great!

Whichever ones you choose, just make sure you have clarity on them so you can adequately explain them to customers and future employees.

There are several things that could be identified as core values in your business.

All of these will set the foundation you’ll want to build your company on and will result in the kind of environment you want as your business evolves.

Whether you have a brick and mortar or a virtual business, the core of your culture drives how you do business.

It will always start with YOU.

#2 Be clear on your expectations

Clear expectations require you to ask yourself several questions like…

• What are you expecting in your business?

• What are your goals?

• What are some of the standards you’re setting? (These come from your core values).

• What are your expectations for the people that you bring on to support you? Are you expecting that they be committed to the vision?

• Are you expecting your business to grow to a certain level over the next 1, 3, 5, or even 20 years?

See what I mean?

Maybe you have a brick and mortar that you’re looking to expand, or maybe you have a thriving online business. Either way, it’s important to know what your expectations are in your own business.

#3 Be proactive in establishing processes from the beginning

Take the time to be proactive and create the needed processes for your business.

When you’re in the beginning stage, a lot of times small business owners think, “Oh, I don’t need that yet because I don’t have employees.”

Wrong.

The key is for you to create those processes before you have team members so you can begin establishing those standard operating procedures or processes to stay consistent and organized with your operations.

Maybe you started out, as most of us have, as a solopreneur.

But now you’ve evolved into a growing small business and have your CEO hat on.

Congratulations!

But processes are even more imperative when you reach this stage of business because everyone needs to be on the same page.

So go back and think about the daily activities you complete each day and write them down on paper or type them up on a Word document on your computer, iPad, or whatever’s most convenient for you.

This exercise will help you create a visual of how your business is operating.

#4 Be clear on who your audience is and how you serve them

This is also key from the beginning.

As an entrepreneur, you want to begin establishing and understanding who your audience is and how you will serve them.

[Tweet “Without understanding who your target market is or who your direct audience is and how to serve them, are you really in business?”]

You must be clear about things like:

• How old is your audience?

• Where do they live geographically?

• How much do they make?

• Are they single? Married? Divorced?

• What level of education do they have?

• Where do they hang out online and offline?

The clearer you are about who you serve the greater potential of growing a profitable and impactful business you’ll have.

 #5 Be clear on the direction your company is headed

Do you know the direction your company is headed right now?

Do you want it to grow into a Fortune 500 company or do you want to remain a small, yet growing, solid company that’s serving your customers at the highest level?

Everybody, of course, is not trying to be a Fortune 500 company.

And that’s okay.

That’s why we have different business models.

Business is not one size fits all.

You may prefer to be a solid small business that’s serving your community, even serving from a global standpoint with excellence.

Whatever your desired end result is, get clear, concise direction on how you’ll get there.

It’s a process but trust me, you’ll get there (wherever your there is) with time.

In summary, these are my best points to jumpstarting your position and getting your business organized, developing processes, and implementing consistency.

Again, know what your processes and standards are from the beginning.

Because everything starts with you!

-Delmar Johnson

HR Brain for Hire™

This post is sponsored by Delmar Johnson, Founder and Creator of HR Brain for Hire™. She has worked with Corporate environments, small businesses and micro-entrepreneurs for more than 20 years. For more innovative HR solutions visit www.hrbrainforhire.com or contact her directly at info@delmarjohnson.com.