THE grow your business, you must keep the value flowing to you. Value represents many things, including the solutions your product or service provides to the market, creating relationships, and getting paid. The problem is that many factors can limit your ability to continue to get that value. It is common, for example, for political climates, environmental disasters and changes in the economy to limit the flow of value in your company.

For example, in 2022, there were 18 special weather and US climate-related disasters costing at least $1 billion. Also consider that if you are investing in the stock market, your value can change drastically if there is a change in the political climate. A STUDY found that there is a significant relationship between political instability and stock market performance. With the election on the horizon, it's understandable to be worried.

For your business to continue to receive value in some form, even in changing circumstances, you need to ensure that the company continues to provide value relevant to the situation and context. This requires thinking outside the box.

As CEO of Idoneus, I know firsthand how challenging it is to stay ahead of the game, developing new ideas to drive value like this. One thing I know for sure is that if you want to demonstrate your worth and remain relevant and irreplaceable to those who value you, you need to change the landscape.

To develop a stronger value stream for you, implement these strategies.

Connected: The Value Economy – How to Master the Game of Wealth in a Changing World

1. Develop and incorporate a value-first mindset

The most obvious way to gain value from others is to get paid. You are selling something from your company, sharing your wisdom, liquidating investments or even gaining an inheritance. People are paying you and there is a value exchange for your offering.

However, instead of focusing your mindset on getting value, turn it around. Focus on having a value-first mindset. This means you lead with the value you provide instead of the value you get. It's a game changer.

For example, if your company sells a product, provide your most likely customers with all the information they need within that industry. It's not just about providing a selling price for your item, but rather giving away all that free but valuable information that goes far beyond what you offer. Anticipate all their FAQs, objections and information they are likely to need before making an educated purchase. Think about the customer before they become one, making their life easier before the sale. It creates a purchase for the customer. It builds trust and trust forms valuable long-term relationships.

This does not mean that you act like a sacrificial lamb or that you have to give everything to those who value you. Instead, set and maintain your own boundaries.

What's different is that you're really investing in how you're benefiting other people. Instead of pulling every dollar out of them, you're focused on how you can support and help. from proving your worth in this simple way, you can become irreplaceable to those who pay you.

2. Build your social currency

You've heard it many times before. Who knows it matters. If you lack a social network for some reason, or your social network does not help you to attract value in some form, it is time to make some changes. You have to build your own social currency.

Relationships matter in many forms. Ask yourself these questions:

• Who is in your network now?

• Who will go bat for you?

• Who can those individuals introduce you to that might be valuable to you or them?

• Who within your network knows someone who might be interested in the latest asset, product or service you're selling?

There is great value in real connections. When you build these strong relationships, those people will move mountains to provide value to the people they care about – and that could be you.

To increase the value stream for you, then, you must continually work on building and nurturing these relationships. Take steps to reach out to people, ask for introductions, research who your current network knows, and then move on.

For example, host a podcast or a webinar. Or go further and host a local seminar, workshop or dive and act as a speaker. Facilitate introductions between speakers or sponsors to cultivate their network and strengthen yours. Consider sponsoring an awards ceremony that recognizes important individuals you want to know. This builds your reputation and social currency by working as well build your network.

Connected: Social currency and your circle of influence

3. Consider the trading value of the asset

In a turbulent situation, many people take the knee-jerk action of selling. In my industry working with high net worth leaders, this often looks like divesting assets, such as art, jewelry, real estate portfolios or businesses. Selling products/services or divesting assets can certainly free up cash. However, selling is not the only option and is sometimes the worst move you can make. Consider instead the strategy of commercial value.

Marketing reduces sales friction. It helps to shorten the time frame of the process and allows you to switch to the exact new form of value you want faster. It seems counterintuitive, but trading can often outperform selling as a frictionless value-for-value exchange.

The main limitation of this strategy is debt. Debt makes trading much more difficult as banks don't want to move collateral. Debt often kills these trades because an appraiser will be involved, and that means you can have a person who doesn't understand your assets or other forms of value they never had making crucial value decisions. Theirs. It just doesn't work. Debt free trades are straightforward and can be very rewarding.

Ultimately, your goal is to build value with others through the products and services or assets you own; to do this, you need to minimize leverage and increase the value and profitability of the assets you own. By exchanging those assets that no longer meet your goals and expectations, it is possible to move directly to other assets that provide the objectives and value you need.

In my book, Billions Under Pressure: The Art and Science of Creating, Exchanging, and Protecting Value, I explore ways you can focus your efforts on building better value streams for exchange. The exchange of value today builds on an old concept of exchange but positions it for the 21st century. In your business, it is essential to the success of the company; that you can exchange money for your products and services, but you can also exchange your knowledge, presentations, expertise or even tangible property.

Connected: How it helped me prove my worth in reshaping the face of high value asset trading globally

Sometimes, it may seem counterintuitive to simply exchange one form of value for another, but when you learn this process, you'll be able to develop stronger value streams on a consistent basis. For example, if you operate a debt-free, cash-strapped real estate portfolio as a business, but are concerned about the real estate landscape in the coming years, you can trade this asset with someone who has the expertise to manage it in this environment as an exchange of value for a portfolio of businesses, rare art, precious metals, or even music labels or patents. There are no limits to the options that can be achieved through value exchange. Thinking differently ensures that the flow of value continues in any market.

Change your mindset instead of always considering the trade you currently own high value assets for those you want, and very often you'll end up preserving value in ways that the traditional sales process might not. This vital and often overlooked skill can be the key differentiator in your business growth and long-term success.