Build a Business That Reflects Who You Are

In this episode of More Than Just Task Management, we dive into one of the most foundational (and often overlooked) elements of entrepreneurship: aligning your business with your personal values, purpose, and calling.

We explore why so many new ventures fail. Not because of a lack of effort or funding, but because they’re disconnected from the founder’s true intentions.

You’ll learn why values-led businesses are more sustainable, how to identify the values that truly matter to you (not just the ones you’ve inherited), and how to use them as a compass for every decision in your business from hiring to customer relationships.

Whether you’re just thinking about launching or already building something, this episode will inspire you to create a business that feels right, lasts longer, and truly makes a difference.

“Forget what others say you should value. Ask yourself: what truly matters to you?” – Anna Angelova

Transcript of “Aligning Your Business With Your Values”

The transcript below was automatically generated. Please ignore any errors or inconsistencies in the text.

Anna Angelova   0:04
Welcome to the new episode of More Than Just Task Management, your favorite daily podcast where we help you build a successful business with me, Anna Angelova, business coach and consultant, and my fellow co-host and business consultant Joris Minosvan Hey Joris.

Jores Minasvand   0:21
Hi, Anna. Good to see you again. It’s been a while, maybe not for a while. Maybe we want to talk about that for a few seconds. We’ve been traveling.

Anna Angelova   0:35
Yeah, there are quite a few things going on and I was actually thinking that we can use the Saturday or Sunday episode to share a little bit about it.

Jores Minasvand   0:44
OK, sounds good. Let’s jump right in then. What’s the subject today?

Anna Angelova   0:49
So today we’re covering a subject that quite a few aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners are asking, and you might actually be in that position as well, wondering how do I align my business, the business I want to create with my values, purpose, my colleagues?
And it’s such a such a great question. And before we dive into answering the how like starting your own business is the best, best way to align your personal values.
Your purpose and your calling with what you do. It’s really, especially when you start a business. In the beginning, it’s only you. You are the business and you as the business founder, as the creator of the business.
You define the values of the business. You define the purpose and the vision and the mission. And the whole business can be based on you, on your own values, on your own purpose, on the change you want to see in the world, on how you want to make things better and different.
And this is such an empowering thing because wherever else you go, like if you’re working for someone else, you already get into an existing company, like you already get into a culture and a-team that operates in certain ways. And yes, you might be able to find great places like we’ve both.
Been part of an amazing teams that it’s been such a great time working with the people in that culture. Yet they were never a full representation of who we are, of our values, of what we want to do and how we want to do things in the world, so.
The fact that you are thinking about starting your own business and one of the questions you have is how do I align it with my values, my purpose and calling. That’s fantastic and.
The how is easy. The how is easy. But uh, before we dive into the how, actually, I want to hear your initial thoughts as well.

Jores Minasvand   3:02
I I totally agree. What is the statistic that we that I read years ago, 250,000 businesses register. I wasn’t. I’m not quite sure if it’s Ontario or Canada, but regardless, 250,000 businesses registered to start every year.
By the end of the second year, 95% are done.
Are finished. And this is one of the things that Anna, you and I, our mission, vision is to help people make sure that when they start a business started with a mission, vision, with a with a value and a purpose.
The reason those 95% they vaporize is because they only focus on one thing and that’s money at any cost. I cheat, I cut back, I cut corners, I make a subpar product, I shaft it to people. I just want to make money and.
It’s not sustainable. Within two years they vaporize. But when you like, like you said, when you bring your values and your essence, no matter what you do, if you start with that, whether it’s a product or a service, your essence is in there and if it’s something positive, it will thrive.
Money will come. Money is secondary. Money will will. It’s like a river. It will flood into your your bank account. And this is not a myth. And this is where I think it’s important, like you said, start with the value.
Why are you doing what you’re doing? Don’t focus on just money. OK, if I buy 10 pieces at at $1.00 each and spend 50 Cent or a dollar on labour, that product is $11.00 and if I sell it for $20, but no, if I can sell it for $80.00 and then.
No, don’t like focus on. I know you don’t like this term, but love the problem, not the solution. And and like what what you’re selling, the service or the product. If it solves a problem, you will money will never stop.
Money will never, ever stop if you focus on the right thing. And I think that’s where a lot of businesses that they fail and they don’t or I think, I think the number was 65% at the end of the fifth year was 95%.
By five years, they vaporize. If you’re if you do it the right way, with the right values and right goals, you’ll be one of those Unicorns that some big Company will come and buy you.

Anna Angelova   5:46
Love the passion you have when you talk about this and.
Everything you said, absolutely. When you chase money and when this is the only thing that you are starting business for, of course this is a natural law. It’s not just law of business, it’s just we we feel.
Like we know when when someone is trying to shaft us, like we feel it energetically. We might not even be able to explain why, but we feel this and thinking about the value you bring, the value you create and the values you you bring, like your core values.
As the business owner, sitting down definitely as you’re starting the journey, like sitting down and really thinking about what are those values. And one thing is that a lot of us like we might think that oh, we value.
Family and we value hard work and things like this for example, where for a lot of us these things are not really things that we really value because we like because we we think these are valuable, but because of our.
Upbringing because of society, because of everyone around us. These are more values that were given to us, not values that we really consciously chose. So I would highly recommend spending a little bit of time with yourself.
If you’re meditating, if you’re someone who meditates, or just go for a walk and really think about what truly matters to you, especially as you’re embarking on this journey, especially as you’re starting the the venture, this venture, as you’re starting a business.
Like, really think about. Forget about everyone around you. Forget about your siblings, brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, friends. Forget about All of them. Forget about what others are saying that, oh, you should value hustle and things like this. No.
Really think about.

Jores Minasvand   8:02
One time kill.

Anna Angelova   8:05
Yeah, yeah, forget. Forget about All these kind of things and think about what you really value. What is your purpose? What is your calling? Because really, you’re starting this business because you want to create something lasting. You probably want to create something.
Leave the legacy in a way, even if you decide to sell it, even if you decide, even if this is not the only business you have, even if at some point you move away from this business, you probably still want this to continue even without you after you exited successfully.
And it’s important to spend not too much time because we can also get into those loops where we never get out of our own head. Yes, spend time in your own head. And also one thing that I know we have been talking about it from time to time.
Yes, think about it, but also use your own emotions like feelings, your heart and your gut, your intuition as well. Tap into All these three like that holographic thinking, that holographic leadership we have talked about. You can go and listen to that episode if you haven’t listened.
Listen to it yet and think, think, feel, sense All these things like the the purpose of the business, the values you bring. And then once you have clarity, like don’t don’t get like a laundry list, right? Like you don’t want to get a laundry list of All like.
Everything from from family to. I know kindness is one of ours. Don’t get a laundry list of values and things like this. Like just pick I would say 3:00 to 5:00.
It is a perfect like anywhere from three to five. Yeah, it can be a couple of values, but at least three, I would say at least three. You can come up with at least three and that’s it. These are the values for your business. Then everything else do become the core values for your business and these core values.
Like you said, Joris, when they’re the right values, when they’re and when I say right, when we say right values. Again, if you have listened to some of our podcast, I’ve mentioned the Energy Leadership Framework, which as a certified professional coach through IPAC, this is one of the things I use with my our clients, with our coaching clients.
We actually do this thing and it’s a great framework and ultimately based on this framework, everything is energy, not just based on this framework, everything in the world is energy and we have the destructive energy and constructive.
Energy. And when the values you choose are constructive energy, when they resonate with that higher levels of energy, like I can say for our values like accountability and responsibility, they’re more Level 3. It’s still constructive energy, but it.
It has a bit of destructive energy there as well, and then from there kindness it goes to level 4 wisdom.
Curiosity. Curiosity is level 5, Wisdom is level 6 and.
Now I’m drawing a blank for the the the last one here from level 7. So ultimately we have values that resonate at this level. So when you have values that are constructive that are not.
Don’t stem out of fear, but they stem out of love. Ultimately it will allow you to set amazing foundations for your business where and the important thing though is like it’s one thing. Having these values is one thing like writing them down. It’s one thing but then.
Incorporating them with your business, within your business is a completely different story and I know that this is a short episode. We don’t have a lot of time to to get into the whole thing, but I actually want to emphasize that as the business owner, as the one who starts the business.
Those values are ultimately, it’s up to you to create, to choose them, it’s up to you to pick them, and then it’s up to you to live by these values. It’s up to you to show up with these values. If you’re saying, if we’re saying that accountability and responsibility are our values, then.
We show up and yes, Saturday we’ll talk a little bit more about what’s going on, take full responsibility for the week off we had ultimately for the daily podcast. So as the business owner.
You choose the values. As the business owner, you show up with these values and when you start creating your business and creating your team, you make sure that the culture honors these values. These values become the core that the business always honors. I remember, I know we’ve mentioned this that for Disney for example.
One of their values was family, and we saw what happened when Disney forgot about this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When they they forgot about this and deviated from this, we saw what happened with Disney. So it’s up to you. This is the great news.
And as a leader, this is one of the most amazing things that you can do. Create an organization that has those core values that guide everything within the business, not just marketing and sales, but hiring, how things operate within the business, every, everything.

Jores Minasvand   14:04
Absolutely. And once you bring that into your business, it inadvertently, it will incorporate itself in the people you hire, people you manage, you will literally you will.
Repel people that don’t have your don’t align with your values and you’ll be like AX on the resume next. Now the 1st 5 seconds of the interview, you’ll know the way you manage your team, the way you speak to your customer, whether it’s if it’s a service or if it’s a product.
The moment you that you you you said we we know when we’re getting ripped off. The moment you open your mouth to your customer, they know if you’re after money or after giving them value. If you’re after money, you may have one time, one hit wonder quick win.
You’re done.
If they realize you’re a partner at any cost, you will bring them value. You’re like their lifer, their customer for that. They don’t because the customer itself either has has a business or a drug. They have their own businesses, so they don’t wanna they if they they want somebody they can trust.
And of value. If they can get that value and trust from you, they will never go anywhere. Me, myself, I will drive an extra 40 minutes to go to a Hardie dealership that I trust.
Rather than a brand new one that pops up and says, oh, you saw what happened to the mud dealership, right? The first thing they did, the first announcement of the first e-mail that they sent out was we’re canceling All the the loyalty programs, All your.
Points are gone. I have like $1000 worth of service there. I could have cashed in on vaporized. I have never even I I’ve blocked their emails. Now I go to somewhere else. I found another one so.
As customers, if you give them to trust, they’ll be there for life as employees. And this is something that you can teach your employees. Some people, not everyone is built to like to have a business, but even as an employee, you can bring those values to your employee, teach them, enable them to have values.
And then within six months they get up and say, Oh my goodness, I love it. This Monday I’m going to work.
Not like, Oh my God, it’s Monday. I have to go to that freaking office again. So you you will inevitably build that through your entire business system, All the systems, people you hire, your your customer, your processes, everything will exude that positivity and and the value that you add to your customer.

Anna Angelova   16:44
Absolutely. And this is again one of the best things about starting your own business that you you decide it’s the choice is yours and the path ahead is up to you. And we did mention that we are launching a new program, a membership.
So if you’re interested, a membership where we are helping business aspiring, actually business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, start businesses, start successful businesses that thrive. And if you are interested for this one, we would love.
To for you to join us, we’d love to to have you join us and I will add the link to the wait list so you can be notified once the doors are open. I think we’re thinking of September opening the doors for September.
We’ll see how it goes because like there there’s some moving parts in there and you know what it’s like with projects and things like this. So we sign up though. Sign up if you’re interested, sign up, let us know. We can get in contact even earlier. So who knows, you might get a chance to explore things even before.
Open.
The doors get before it came front of the line. You know how from Amex we received the front of the line picket. So you might get some kind of when you subscribe and get into the wait list, you might get a chance to be to the front of the line and be one of the first ones to get into this.
Program and really start a business that represents who you truly are and a business that makes a difference. Makes a difference not only for you, your life, like your family, your your friends, but everyone, the community you’re part of.
The country and and and ultimately the world, denting the world in your unique way. So if you’re even just a little bit curious, I highly recommend put your name in there and we’ll let you know once. Once it’s available, we’ll let you know. And yeah, I think this is it for today actually.
I know we’re so passionate we can talk about business and value and all these kind of things all day long, but it’s a it’s a good start for us resuming the conversations and tomorrow we will be back with the topic that is more towards established businesses and business owners.
This is one of the biggest, biggest problems we see with business owners who have scaled their businesses. They have a team, they’ve scaled the business to a certain level and they are now facing a ceiling.
So tune in tomorrow to hear what this ceiling is and what you can do about it. So yeah, looking forward to another wonderful conversation. Thanks, Joris, and I’ll see you tomorrow. See you tomorrow.

Jores Minasvand   19:47
Yeah, tomorrow.