Understanding why charitable causes are critical for business

- The primary purpose of a for-profit business is exactly that, to make a profit. And well it should, that's what drives you as an entrepreneur and to help you make improvements over time. But the reality is, I've found in coaching one on one with business owners that it's very valuable to have something deeper than just making a profit. It adds more motivation and more energy to the business. What I'm talking about is adopting a cause, a charitable cause.

By my definition, what I mean is that a cause is something that you work for, that's something greater than just making money. It's something that you believe in and you want to do, to change the world. Why is a cause so important to a small business? Well, first of all, it provides motivation beyond just giving money, not just for you, but for your employees. You see, your employees, they're motivated by money but only up to the point where their basic needs are taken care of.

Giving them more money beyond that really doesn't have that much of effect on motivation. But when you give them a cause, it gives them something greater to work for and they become more excited about the business. Number two is that a cause has a powerful effect on the culture of your business. It begins to unify everyone because they feel like they're working together for the greater good. Unification of your employees is something that you want to have happen and nothing brings people together like working together for a good cause.

Number three is it increases the level of their engagement. Now, as the business owner, you care a great deal about your business, and you'll probably always be the one that cares the most about your business, but when you have cause, you'll see that level of caring about the business success increase because now they feel like, wow, we're actually doing something when this business succeeds, we're actually making a difference in the world. Number four is that it has an effect on your marketing.

This actually does impact the bottom line because you can couple what your business does with a reputable non-profit organization and they'll also increase awareness of your business. When you work in tandem with a non-profit, it does bring in more awareness and more customers to your company. And lastly, there's just an immeasurable benefit that comes back to your business by doing good for other people, call it karma or goodwill, however you want to think about it, it is a real thing and I found that great things happen for me and for my business when we devote ourselves to serving others.

My recommendation that your small business adopt a cause, is a real thing. I believe this is a necessary part of your business strategy. Not only will it increase the profit of your business, but you'll be doing good for others and you'll find it easier to attract the kind of people you really want working for you.