In a community with no identity or real structure where can you begin to improve and grow? As discussed in my last blog I am a member of the picture framing community and while the industry is a competitive market to some extent I believe an understanding of where we are in the business world and a true understanding of the legitimacy of our community is necessary before any of us can really excel and take on the giants of the business. The values of the community need to advance beyond the sole idea of survival and everyone for themselves. There is a premium on deception, lack of respect and harmful gossip in the industry that needs to be addressed and overcome. While it is a competitive market place creating value in what we do and developing a respect for one another would go a long way in building a stronger community.
Values that drive community members need to change most of all, an understanding of the services, products and skills that exist in the framing community need to be brought to the forefront both inside and outside the community. There is a disconnect between picture framing and the regular business world. The community needs to create a chamber of commerce atmosphere to first establish an identity and create an open forum for ideas. Most importantly there is a need to understand the community we are all operating in. By communicating with others in the community an understanding of the community can begin to form based on enlightened knowledge rather than dysfunctional gossip. A chance to unite the community can bring a more legitimate business attitude and professional approach. This organizing stage is the first step and most important step for the community. If you look at the community as a single entity it first has to legitimize itself before it can move forward and be seen as legitimate to the external world.
Involving the external world is another important part to the process. I think it is very important for the framing community to understand how they are seen by the businesses we cater too and by the general public. I think it would be eye opening and a great sign of what is needed in the industry to hear from those outside of the community on what picture framing is to them. This can provide both the opportunity to help build an identity and market ourselves as a proper business community. While this may sound like a purely marketing issue it is in fact much deeper than that when a business community has no identity. You must understand yourself before you can sell yourself. Inviting external groups to be involved in community building would be very beneficial in this ongoing saga of “Framers without a Cause”.
While the priority is to make a profit in this community, I do not believe that this will ever be maximized without first creating a respectable and more unified community.
