Written by: Tony Sprando and Kate Couch

“Never separate the life you live from the words you speak.” — Paul Wellstone

We live in a “he said, she said” society. We interact through voice memos and quick videos focusing on what is said and not what is done. The art of holding to your word has seemed to have lost its value. But unlike a lot of change we’ve seen recently, this is something that shouldn’t go. Getting a job well done rather than having an idea well said is a value I hope to see stick around in our society. When it comes to business (especially AV business), it’s important to be able to live up to the truth you speak.

We see it all the time in pop culture or even in our government. Politicians will make empty promises, celebrities will say they stand for one thing but their actions will do the opposite. It’s no secret we live in a fallen, money-driven society. I know there’s not much we can do about that particular topic, but there is a lot we can do on our end about following through with our word. It is much better to be somebody that has validity behind their words. The old saying, “actions speak louder than words” needs to make a comeback. It seems that, through years of media and mixing up truths and common goals, we have put the idea that our actions speak about us to bed.

Never separating the life you live from the words you speak can play into both professional and personal areas of our lives. When we go out to give a bid, we don’t like to make empty promises to people or go back on our word. I’m not going to tell a client that I can do something that’s not realistic or intentionally give them numbers that aren’t true. This is just good business. Nobody likes to be told one thing and then to have another done to them. There are ways that we unintentionally separate our actions from our words in business. This can be avoided when you’re talking with the client. Try to understand their vision while making sure to also tell them realistic things about it. Make sure clients understand that AV workers are not miracle workers. Though you want to hear out their vision and solve their problems, not everything is going to be possible, and not everything they want fits in their budget (like we talked about in last week’s article).

It can be easy to want to make empty promises to clients unintentionally. You want to be able to give people what they want and sell the products that you want to sell. It’s important to remember the integrity of your business is a direct parallel with the validity of your words. Make sure you don’t just talk the talk, but you can walk the walk. With the way that society treats the importance and value of your actions, having a business that does what they say and has a good reputation because of its verbal integrity will make your business stand.

It’s also important to remember that your business and professional life is also a reflection of your personal life. It’s common knowledge to have some separation from your personal and professional life. It’s important to remember that when you’re treating coworkers or employees badly, it’s easy to take that into your home and treat your children or spouse poorly as a result. This can go vice versa. This is why, from a personal and professional standpoint, it’s generally a good saying not to separate the life you live from the words you speak. Following through on your commitments, listening to what others say and not agreeing with people just to agree with people are all goals we should be making in 2021.

Make sure to follow along for more business tips, AV advice and personal testimonies from AV Bend.

*This article is Tony Sprando of AV Bends intellectual property. To use or reference this article please contact: Tony@avbend.com*

To know more about Tony and his professional profile see these:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonysprando/
https://www.ravepubs.com/author/tsprando/
www.tonytheavguy.com

To know more about Kate and her professional profile see these:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-couch-a7318220a/
https://k8couch.wixsite.com/katecouch