If you’re like most folks, you value your appearance very highly. Oh, you may not be able to afford a $500 suit to wear, but you do what you can. One thing we can all control to some extent though is our hair. That’s were a goodly amount of folks concentrate their efforts.
Hair though can be high maintenance. Yes, it take more than combing it. For men, a regular wash and cut is required. Most women with a full head of hair require even more work to keep it looking great. We bother because of the hope that it affects our appearance in a positive way.
Most of us have maintained it to because of our culture. In the US, most folks have become accustomed to men and women having a good head of hair, and consider it a sign of good health and success. WItness the number of magazines that point out bad hair days of the more famous among us
We value our hair. We put a solid investment in it. But in the end, it’s just a passing trend. Hair styles come and go, some trend expensive, while others might be cheaper to maintain, but our society worries about it. We’ve become slaves to it in a way.
Likewise businesses become slaves to appearances. Appearances have costs. Yes, it maybe that cost is the extra hours put in by a few employees here and there. Maybe the cost is considered a necessary evil because how a business appears can be as important as how it actually performs. At least in the short term that seems to work. But in the end, what’s in the books is what matters.
So why not break with convention. Instead of pushing luxurious offices, $500 suits, and big banner advertising, why not go more spartan, and take some pride in your frugalness. Perhaps dollars spent on the fluff of a good hair style for a business could be put to work turning a real profit. Perhaps the man hours spent maintaining the look of success could be spent actually achieving it.
In the end your customers will stay because of results, not because your offices have the best artwork, or are in the fanciest building.
—————-
What brought this blog post on? Cutting my hair off.
In recent months I had the opportunity to help a good cause by shaving my beard and head. Several hundred dollars were raised. It could have ended its affect on my life there, but it hasn’t. The loss of hair resulted in hours of my life back worrying about it. It also challenged the status quo. It make folks take another look. More than a couple saw it as a bold move, and realized the freedom that might come with keeping it gone or short.
Yeah, it’s just hair, and in the end it’s not how you wear it that makes a difference, but whether your focus is stolen by it, and your energy spent on something that exists for mere appearance sake.
Similar Posts:
- St. Louis Startup Weekend
- Social Networking Business Applications
- 2009 Brag Basket
- Opt in and opt out – Twitter Lists
- Haiti Relief via Tee Shirts – Threadless
Tags: Business, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2008
