In business, it is important to stand out. Not everyone is going to like you, that is a hard fact that you have to get over.

That is why, you want to be polarizing, meaning that your audience should know within 5 seconds if this product is for them or not.

How do you become polarizing? It comes through understanding your core business values.

Many of the greatest minds in business always say this: “your business is a reflection of who you are”. That is the reason every great entrepreneur knows that the most important thing you can do to improve your business is to know yourself.

It is important to write your values out and to ponder onto them deeply, so you can use them as a guideline to how you govern your work life.

Values make you stand out, and they make you unique. Each value is something that is personal to you, which means no one can copy them word for word.

In this blog post, I would like to share with you my top 6 values, I use this to determine who is a good fit to work together with me. Feel free to use any of my ideas and incorporate them into your own business.

1. Ambition

I am extremely ambitious. Meaning I have goals I want to get done. I also am very competitive, not in the sense that I like to win per say. But I love the thrill of competition.

I absolutely do not like working with companies that have goals of maintaining themselves, or staying where they are because in our rapidly changing world, you are either growing or dying.

Ambition ultimately does not necessarily mean the achievement of one’s goals but more so the pursuit of a better life. The pursuit of self-improvement, wherever that takes you.

I do not work with companies that don’t like to take calculated risks, or complain or whine a lot but do nothing to take action to change their circumstances.

I only want the best and expect the best, and I am foremost a results driven person.

In middle school, I’ve made the mistake of hanging out with the wrong crowd, people that just wanted to smoke weed all day, sit on their chair and play video games all day.

Many of these “friends” went to low-grade universities and are now stuck in minimum paying jobs with no skillset.

Hanging out with these people, my grades suffered, I went from a straight A+ student to a B student in a matter of weeks. Your environment is extremely important, hang out with people that have goals and want to actually make something off their life.

Work with clients that put value on generating results and want to see the best work possible.

2. Integrity

This is an extremely important value and so I would like to discuss this topic of integrity in depth. When I say integrity, I mean commitment and loyalty to a cause.

I put this value at number two because you can be the most successful person in the world but without integrity, you are just a snake. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Before we discuss what it means to have integrity, let us talk briefly about what it means to NOT have integrity.

I have had experience in the past working with relatives and ex-friends that operated with zero integrity and making this mistake has always came back to bite me in the ass.

Let me describe some of the people that I do not work with. I put people with no integrity into three categories.

1. Cluster B personalities
2. Insecure people
3. Debbie Downers

Cluster B personality types – Narcissist/Sociopath/Psychopaths

Stay clear of these people. They are the most dangerous out of the bunch, because they are ambitious, talented but they are also extremely lazy. Meaning that they will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, including taking shortcuts which means if it entails throwing you under the bus, they will not hesitate to do it.

I have had the opportunity (or lack-there-of) to collaborate with many of these people in my high school and university years and it has always came back to bite me in the ass time and time again.

One moment they are your friend/client, but they are your partner with a knife aimed at your back ready to take you out.

Absolutely stay clear of these people.

I really do not care how talented, how accomplished a person is, or how much money he has in his bank account, or how much status he has, or how hot his boyfriend/girlfriend is.

If he is out there ready to do harm to others, ready to step over others to reach their goals..

With clearly a lack of functional empathy, what makes you think you are not the next person in line?

Just like having a pet wolf, it is only about time you become its next meal.

I call these people wolves in sheep’s clothing because they can disguise themselves as someone that is similar to you but their intentions are in a bad place. Doing a quick gut-check is the best way to determine who is a wolf or who is not.

“Pride comes before the fall”

A Common Proverb

Ultimately these people fail in life and I have seen it time and time again, because this world operates under the law of cause and effect (also known as karma). If you put out bad intentions, the universe will take your bad intentions back to you.

If you have encountered these kinds of people, forgive yourself because you didn’t know any better. Don’t waste your time talking back or seeking revenge (these people don’t fight fair anyway). Do not waste another ounce of energy on them and cut them from your life like surgically removing cancer.

Insecure People

These people are not necessarily bad people per say, some are actually very intelligent. But the thing I find disturbing with insecure people is that they are willing to change sides when a better situation arises.

They are also, like the Cluster B types – ambitious and accomplished, but for the wrong reasons. They are ambitious to look good to others, but not necessarily for the thrill of accomplishment or wanting a better life.

It is an externally motivated need to fill a deep inner void for validation.

These people usually care too much about the opinion of others, to extent of compromising their own values (people pleasing).

You may find that this looks good on the surface because you will have found yourself an unlikely advocate but this can turn into a disaster when the opportunity for this person to find something better.

You will find yourself being abandoned without a moment’s notice (and perhaps talked behind your back). One moment they are your friend, the next moment they can potentially take everything you have worked for up until that point.

Insecure people are ultimately dangerous to your well being because at one moment they are there, but the moment you are in trouble or a challenge arises, they will be somewhere else. You will be sleeping with your eyes half-opened every single day.

I call these people two-faced because you don’t know where their true intentions lie, and without that there can be no integrity or loyalty.

Debbie Downers

Don’t hang out with these sorts of people, people that always have a negative opinion to say.

These people will always, and I mean always have something negative to say.

You usually hear statements like these from the Debbie downer: “You can’t do that” or “I can’t do that because of X reason” or “I don’t have the time for it” or “I’m not successful because of X” or “How are you going to do that, you don’t even have X”.

F*** that s***. Life is too short.

These people’s minds and thinking are literally internally broken and the worst part is they do not want to change.

The Debbie downers lack integrity, because when push comes to shove – they will not show up for you. How can they, when they can’t even show up for themselves.

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Do not try to change people. Remove people that operate from a low level of integrity no matter how talented or accomplished they are.  You can only change yourself, so find people that are a fit to your values and not the other way around.

I cannot stress this enough to be around people that operate from a high level of integrity, because although success in business is important – your peace of mind is also as important.

You cannot fix integrity, at least not through action or externally. Integrity is developed through your relationship with yourself, people that lack integrity have a broken relationship with themselves.

The next three values I will list, are values that I consider, high-integrity individuals.

1. Good-hearted people
2. Loyal individuals
3. Optimists.

Good-Hearted People

I’d rather have someone that has a good heart, no skills but a willingness to learn. A person with a good heart has already the most important thing checked which is his mind.

I define people that are good hearted as people that operate from a place of high moral standards. These people do the right thing even when people are not looking. They want to see others succeed.

They are also usually purpose driven and internally motivated to make the world a better place (in their own way). I like people that are good hearted because they act like how a normal human being should (goes to show the worrying state of our world). As long as a man is a good person and has a kind heart, I can work with him.

Loyal

With culture today, loyalty is something that is so rare. It is rare to find people that say, hey I got your back and really got your back. I don’t care if it’s raining, or if it’s snowing – I got your back.

When I find loyal individuals, I treat them like VIP. Loyalty is about when you say something you are going to do it, you will do it. You do not cheat. You do not lie. If you f*** up, you admit that you made a mistake. These people are a rare breed because most people out there don’t care about loyalty, their loyalty is only to themselves, and unfortunately our world does not work like that.

We are in an interdependent world, meaning we need other people’s support for us to succeed so stay clear of disloyal people that exhibit questionable behaviors e.g. changing their boyfriend/girlfriend like how they change their clothes every day or questionable business practices. Find loyal people that stay true to their word.

Optimists

The world is a harsh place. Doesn’t mean we can’t see things in a better light. People that have faced immense challenges yet choose to stay grounded and optimistic are people that earn my respect.

Find people that are optimists, that see the future better than the present moment. That see the glass half full rather than half empty.

They see a sale they can get, they say to themselves – okay, I’ll go for the sale. A deal doesn’t work out, no worries I’ll get the next deal. Optimists are amazing. They can see a negative situation and reframe it in a way that turns lemons into lemonades. I am not talking about being delusional but people that accept the harsh realities of life and turn it into a paradise.

The book: “Learned Optimism” by Martin E.P.Seligman PHD proves this with data that optimists are statistically happier, and more successful than pessimists.

3. Freedom

I like and enjoy freedom, and having the ability to work when I want, with who I want is something I am blessed with. We were born in this planet free and how we live our life is up to us to decide, not other people.

When I talk about freedom, I mean three components..

First component of freedom is about choice. If you don’t like my work right now, we don’t have to do business together. If you like it tomorrow, sure I am open to doing business. If you have a goal or objective you want to achieve, go for it. If not, then don’t.

It is a non-attached mindset to things.

I really dislike locking people down for commitments because things change, and a free mind is a mind that is flexible to things while staying committed to a cause.

The second component of freedom is about self-expression.

This entails giving your gift to the world, because when you are free you are able to express yourself. As I’ve discussed in many of my YouTube videos – it’s about being unique, and accepting of yourself – understanding that you cannot copy other people 100% but develop things that are already present within yourself.

Self expression is ultimately about understanding that your unique product (you!) has immense value. If you take a look at my work, I am fairly informal, I have a personality, even in a formal business like marketing. But that is my unique angle, my style which makes me stand out and I showcase it.          

“If you can’t fix it, feature it”

Gregory Boyle

The final component of freedom is about taking risks. At first glance, it may look like I am a risk-taker, but if you take a look at my history, I am actually more on the risk-adverse side of things.

However, I am all for taking calculated risks.

Everything in life entails some sort of risk, if you walk outside your house today, there is a chance that you may get hit by a car.

If you ride the subway, there is a chance of the train derailing.

If you stay at home, there are people that have died from accidents at home as well.

If you stay at a job, you might get fired.

If you start a business, it might fail.

If you ask that girl out, she may say no.

If you don’t ask that girl out, you may live your whole life in regret.

The best way to live a risk-free life is to do nothing, say nothing, be nothing, and you will have a no-risk free life.

So how does this connect with freedom? Having the freedom means about going after the things you want while understanding that it will entail risk, yet deciding to do it anyway regardless of the consequences.

When you are doing what you know to be the right thing, not what your parents, your boss, your co-workers tell you – things usually work out for the best. Would you rather take the risk, perhaps fail, and keep your self-respect? Or would you rather do nothing, though you may win the validation of your peers, you lose your self-respect because you know deep down inside you did the wrong thing.

A free mind, is not exactly a risk taker, per say that he is taking unnecessary risks. But he is someone that is willing to bear the consequences to create the life of his dreams.

4. Empathy/Kindness

This is a value I stand by. I choose not to work with people that are just “me, me, me, me, me”. That screams to me: “I don’t give a shit about you” and you’re not important. Why should I give a s*** about someone that stands by that if all they care about is themselves?

I am reliant on my customers to pay me so I can run my business to put food on the table. Just like I am reliant on you, reading this article and my fans that watch my YouTube channel for the career I am extremely grateful for today.

This means that without your support – I cannot succeed. That is why I care for the people that watch my videos and in return I treat them as a family. I treat all my clients like they are my family, because they are. I am reliant on them financially just as they are reliant on me and their success in life equals my success.

I find people that are win/win oriented.

I enjoy working with people that are generous and contribution focused. Life is all about contribution. It doesn’t start when you have already made a ton of money. It starts when you have nothing.

This world operates under the law of cause and effect meaning the more you give out, the more you receive. How much revenue you generate is in direct proportion to the amount of value your business provide to others. If you want to make millions, find a way to serve millions.

I believe that if you help others, other people will help you. I don’t mean this in a manipulative way where okay, I do this for you and you scratch my back although sometimes in business there is an element of a transactional relationship..

I mean doing things for others for the sake of helping them out, while expecting nothing in return. And what I find funny is that usually when you do that, you will get compensated 10x what you put out.

5. Work Ethic

Just take action. I don’t care if it’s one step, two steps, three. Don’t get me wrong, I am primarily a big picture guy. But if you don’t get out your head and get stuff done, you will accomplish nothing.

Stop mentally masturbating.

I value people that put in the work process. If you put in the work, take action you will get results. Period.

I abhor lazy people. I’m not talking about taking a break from time to time, but I’m talking about people that expect a free hand out in life.

Nothing comes free. Things need work and effort.

I am speaking for myself because in the past I relied solely on my talent to succeed, as a person that was talented in fields such as music, studies and video games. As a result, I never ventured outside of my comfort zone and never grew.

I was someone you would call a one legged stool.

When I became 18 and did my undergrad in university in Japan. I got served the humble pie.

I quickly realized my Japanese peers were ahead of me in discipline, work ethic while I could barely do my own laundry at that time.

I am grateful for my peers, co-workers and teachers that taught me this lesson when I was studying abroad in Japan and my work ethic is something that I adopted from the Japanese culture of discipline, organization and putting an utmost importance on appearance and quality. I have covered this in my number one value of ambition about putting your focus on results..However, what was not covered is that the results are developed from a strong work ethic, which comes from an emphasis on the process.

Mastering the process.

If you haven’t gotten the result you want in life. Ask yourself, have you put in the work? Show me the work. Show me your work process.

6. Learning

I am always learning. I learn from everyone I know and will probably do so until the day I die.

I’m not talking about hey he’s so humble, he’s willing to learn. I mean an intention to challenge known beliefs and be wrong to find what is the best and most efficient way to do things.

A learning mind is a self-improvement oriented mind.

I follow the principle of Kaizen, never ending improvement which was one of the core principles of Toyota’s production system. It is a quest for continuous improvement to reach the highest levels of quality.  

I would also put critical thinking as a part of learning. Can you truly learn something without using your brain? The ability to critically think and come to your own conclusions while taking in feedback is the most important skill that has never been taught to us in school.

Learning does not mean blindly accepting what has been told to us, heck – don’t even take my advice I give out. I don’t care how successful your mentor is, he cannot run the race for you and your circumstance you have is totally different from his, this means that all knowledge ultimately can do is to be a guide for you.

That is why even billionaire Mark Cuban, disagrees about having a mentor. You’ve got to develop the ability to filter out information that does not work for you and keep the rest.

Learn something and come to your own conclusions. People I really appreciate being able to work with are free thinkers and people that are always there ready to improve themselves.

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Now does this mean that okay, if a potential client or friend or partner does not exhibits all 6 of these traits, then I will not talk to him? That’s a stupid way to look at things because you have shades of grey in all areas – I try to keep my approach flexible and see this more as a guideline than a rule.

Although the only value that is uncompromisable to me is value number 2, integrity. As the great investor Warren Buffet once said:

“We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don’t have the latter, the first two will kill you, because if you’re going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb.”

Hope this post has helped you out in any way in sculpting a pillar in your business regardless if you are a new entrepreneur, someone that has an established business or someone that is looking to scale. Your values that you have will be different from the ones I have listed, but more importantly is that they should be personal to you and thus be a part of the culture you have in your company to create that positive, results-driven environment.

Thank you for reading, and if you have not already checked out my free e-book: “Cash-Emails” on generating revenue through email, then be sure to click here to download my book.

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