The Heart of a Servant
I’m a service provider. I write copy for people who want to sell products and services using the written word. Perhaps you are a service provider, too. Or perhaps you sell products of some kind. Either way, it doesn’t matter. This post will still be relevant to you.
Based on a number of posts I’ve been reading on friends’ and colleagues’ blogs, I’ve been thinking a lot about how important it is to treat people right. It does not matter if you’re trying to sell something or not. It just makes sense to follow the golden rule: treat others how you would like to be treated.
One time a lawyer challenged Jesus by asking him what the greatest law was. He wanted to see which law (of hundreds) was more important than all the rest. Jesus’ response was interesting…
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
How many times do we actually love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Usually, we are interested only in loving ourselves. But this is a recipe for failure. As King Solomon wrote, “pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before stumbling.”
It is interesting to me that total freedom is held up as a desirable goal for a business person. I take a different approach. I enjoy helping people. I think my life would be diminished if I were not contributing to other people’s lives in some way… if I were not being of service.
Almost everything you do is a form of service–both to yourself and others. This blog post is a service to my readers. The copy I write is a service to my clients. The special report I sell about how to get copywriting clients provides a service to aspiring copywriters. Etc.
I encourage you to think in terms of service–even if you sell a product. How are you serving others? How can you demonstrate the heart of a servant? How can you treat others the way you would like to be treated? Something to think about.
-Ryan M. Healy
