Barefoot Business
In India, where I was born and raised, bare feet are part of a cultural tradition: You remove your shoes before you enter anyone’s home, including your own. You enter a temple, mosque, or other place of worship in your bare feet too.
It’s a gesture of reverence, a way of saying: God is in this place. I will approach the Sacred humbly, the way I entered this world, naked and stripped of all artifice. And since I can’t actually get naked without causing a riot and breaking laws, my bare feet will be the symbol of my nakedness.
Bare feet are about being real, humble, and offering our hearts in service to the Sacred. They remind us that our lives are gifts of grace. That we serve the One whose gifts we receive with every breath.
So what does this have to do with business?
When you approach your business, as well as your clients and customers, with bare feet, you honor the Sacred within them. This doesn’t necessarily mean you attend your client meetings without footwear — although you can, if that’s how your client’s culture operates.
It does mean that in every encounter your clients and customers have with you and your business, they feel the kind of respect, transparency, and loving service that truly honors them. Your website, your newsletter, your services and your products, all serve as living reminders to your customers that they are gifts from the Sacred too.
So take a barefoot inventory of your business right now. What does your client experience when she enters the world of your business? From your marketing to your customer service and beyond, does she feel honored, served, treated with respect, devotion and the humility that is at the heart of true service?
If so, she’ll go out and tell her family and friends about you. She’ll come back the next time she needs what you have to offer. And in serving the Sacred within her, you’ll nourish your own soul as well as the soul of your business.
Barefoot business is about service, love, respect, devotion and transparency. What does your barefoot inventory tell you about your business?
