“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”
-Margaret J. Wheatley
Starting, building, growing and running a small business is amazing and tough. When I started The Elderberry Co. I was a one-woman show making Elderberry Syrup in my home kitchen. Over the past three years, we have grown to a team of over 15 people in a commercial kitchen and a cute little storefront in southern Indiana. With the growth we have experienced, one of my lifelines as the owner has been core values. I quickly realized that I needed guidance and wisdom in my decision making process. My family and I follow Jesus and every morning my prayer usually starts with some version of “God help me!” More times than not, I feel like I have no clue what I am doing as I lead my team and grow my business. Now Jesus helps me in SO many ways throughout my day and one of those ways is leading me to establish and live by my core values. It is through these values that I can see more clearly the decisions I should make and more importantly, the WHY behind what we do. Jesus tells us that the most important command is to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. Pretty simple, right? I’ve found that my core values are the tools that help me love God and love people.
We hope to share in more detail each of our core values and how they play out in our business day-to-day. In no certain order, here are our Core values:
- Courage
- Sincerity
- Kindness
- Generosity
- Relationships
- Joy
- Hard Work
Today we want to chat a little about Generosity. We define this as releasing all sense of ownership over our time, money and possessions, recognizing we are simply stewards of everything God has given us. We show generosity in our business in a lot of ways: jumping in to help with a task, checking in on one another to see how we are doing, encouraging one another during a difficult season. Our generosity plays a significant part in our customer service as well. We lead with generosity as we handle refunds and replacements on our products and are always eager to extend a sale if it can help our customers experience the benefits of elderberry as they keep their families healthy.
Discovering your core values is well worth the effort. Whether you set core values within your place of work or your own home, they help pave a way for success and a sense of balance; they become the core of culture. Once you start living and recognizing them, life shifts in the most beautiful ways! We would love to hear your core values….comment below and let us know!
8 comments
Wow—very well said. My husband and I ( and now grandson) have been a customer of Elderberry for the past 6-9 months. At that time, I had read several articles about the health benefits of elderberry—as well as tv reports to the same. I saw Jenny on a television program and was thrilled to learn her company was local. I like to support local small businesses whenever possible. So I immediately placed an order—that order and all those to follow have arrived in tact and in a timely manner. I feel the tasty syrup has helped us. No colds or viruses since we started with elderberry. I too am a follower of Jesus Christ. I pray that He will continue to bless you, guide you and grow your business. I see The Elderberry Company as truly an assest to our community.
What a wonderful message. Your emphasis on your core values is apparent in the terrific customer service you provide.
Excellent article. All my grandkids (10) including All our family have not been sick one day. Going on a year. We take the syrup on a daily basis. Kids ask for it. Thanks again.
Jim in Seymour, IN