Enrich Your Business By Capturing Its Story

Most of my clients who are business owners spend a lot of their waking hours thinking (and sometimes worrying while they sleep) about their businesses. Day in and day out, they work to make their businesses successful, so that they can provide a better lifestyle than perhaps their parents did. It is hard work and they have had successes and failures along the way.

Once their children get old enough to have a job, many times they work at the company, whether they work doing menial tasks in a manufacturing environment, or they help doing things for the team around the office. Clients hope that their kids can appreciate the importance of having that business, of providing a living for the team members, for providing new and better products to be purchased by the public, and of their parents’ contribution to the community because of that business. However, my clients tell me that is not always the case.

When the children get older, the dreams of many a parent-business owner is that the child comes to work in the business and that becomes their career and lifestyle. As many clients realize over time, that may not come to pass, as the child (now an adult) may have other interests that they want to pursue. Alternatively, many children do not understand the importance of that business when the stories come from the parent’s mouth, instead of from someone else.

How do you tell the story of the business that will both benefit your business in attracting talent to work in the business or suitors to buy the business, or even attract your children to the business? The best way to do this is to have both the business owners and their team tell the story of where they have come from and where they are going and capture it all on video.

For instance, one company had been in business for 80 years, with the business having been started by the parents of the current owners who are getting close to retiring. The company has always innovated in their industry, and they are constantly developing new product offerings. They have developed their team, and they have great people in charge of various parts of the business. All these team members know the story of how the business came to be, the directions that the company is going and how great their culture is. They are excited about the directions that the company is going.

Through interviews of the parents of the current owners and the story of how the business started, the “where” and “why” can be captured on video. The current owners expanded on their parents’ dreams and moved the company to new buildings, offering new products to their customers, and became leaders in their industry. This story is captured on video, too. Now, the members of the current team are each interviewed to share their excitement of working in the business and being able to create new products, great new team members, and explain the company’s direction and bandwidth as they see the company going forward. The excitement is contagious and shows that the company has great team members, great vision, and the ability to move the company forward and grow. This all builds up excitement, motivation, and knowledge that strengthens the business’s culture, image, and purpose.

We have seen the power of this in action with our extensive experience with business owners and created a Corporate Legacy program designed to meet this need. We plan, execute, and provide the high-quality final product for you following a known methodology for best results. The videos show the foundation of the business, its history, its hopes, and aspirations, as well as its culture, its direction, and its excitement about the future.

These videos can be used on a website, in webinars, at staff meetings, and other presentations, and as sales, marketing, and recruiting tools. It is a compelling way to tell the company story to potential hires, of having new customers get to know the company, to get owners children excited about entering the company so they run it for another generation, or alternatively, to get a better price if the current owners decide to sell the business. It has also been known to give new excitement to the current owners to keep the business for a while longer and do even more with it.

Whether you contact us for help with this project or do it on your own – Capture that excitement about your company on video! You won’t regret it.

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Denice Gierach

Gierach Law Firm

Denice Gierach is an attorney, CPA, Northwestern University business master's graduate, and has owned several businesses from real estate to manufacturing. She is the lead attorney at Gierach Law Firm in the Chicago area. With more than 30 years of experience, she has been a respected and sought-after resource for businesses looking to grow, sell, solve problems, and succeed long term. Her insights across business areas gives a fuller lens to business issues and solutions, and helps businesses grow and succeed with less time spent on legal issues and other time-consuming problems.

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