The Inspiration That Shapes Our Success

Written by Ross Cockerham, CEO & Co-Founder

To be truly successful with your business in today's world, one of the biggest contributors is how you stay inspired. It might sound idealistic to some, but being inspired can be the very definition of success, which can be the absolute difference between making it and not making it.

Just like the core identity of a brand, it all boils down to your message, or even your mission statement. So what is your mission statement? Your brand message isn't necessarily something you can manufacture based on the actual function of your business. It needs to come from a deeper place that actually means something.

One of the hardest things to do in both business and life is knowing what you actually want. Discovering and identifying this makes it so much easier to define your message. You find what you want by exploring who you really are. And that's the core of a brand's identity: you.

A couple months ago, I made a commitment to pay attention to our clients more. Particularly, to allow myself and our employees to take a special interest in their successes. But more so, to actually measure their successes, and hold ourselves accountable for these KPIs (more so than our own). The more attention I paid to this idea, the more the unnecessary things just dissolved away. Things just made more sense in those moments, giving me a renewed vigor that I haven't had in a while. And I've been acting on this inspiration and it's already made a big difference.

So if you're the owner of a jewelry store, maybe that's a place where you can start to find your inspiration. Think about why you got into this industry in the first place; why you make jewelry; why you go to work every day. It's more about why you do what you do than what you're actually doing. Take special interest in your customers' lives. Think very closely about the engagements, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and special moments that people celebrate, which you are fortunate enough to take part in because these events happen to involve jewelry. Don't just think about them, meditate on them—even pray about them—and really let it take you away.

When you pay extra close attention to what you really care about, it's in those very moments where you will find the most inspiration, and more success than you've ever dreamed of.