“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.” ~Margaret Fuller
WOW! 400 episodes… I’m so excited, I set out to blog every day… however, after episode 365… I just kept going. Thanks so much for following me! It’s been a blast.
Last week I shared an article on my personal Facebook account. I didn’t include a comment. I just posted it. I did not receive any comments, no interactions at all. I found this interesting. But I did it with intent.
Trust Me. I know people read it. But they were too afraid to comment.
Now, I’ll include a link here and I’m going to share it because as a small business owner you need to constantly be aware of what is going on in the legal environment. Even if it’s a business totally unrelated to yours!
The article is about a case in Canada.
Whew. Most of my American followers are breathing again. But that’s not the point. Read it. Take your own bias out of your head and simply read the article.
The premise is this. A person who happens to be transgender (male to female) went into a business for the service of waxing. The employee who performs male waxing was not working, just the employee that does female waxing. This employee happens to be a married Muslim woman with the religious belief that she is not allowed to see men, other than her husband, well… naked.
BUT, in Canada the gender you believe you are, is the gender you are.
So while the employee refused to participate in the service because the biology conflicts with her beliefs. The customer believes all of her, including “those” parts, are female parts to be accommodated by the female waxing specialist.
I’m not posting this for a debate. I’m posting as a cautionary tale.
If I had to predict, the person that is going to “lose” is the business owner. Again, if I had to predict, there will be a settlement to make the whole issue simply go away. The argument presented to the business owner will be something like… you can pay a lot in attorney fees and still be ordered to compensate, or you can simply pay now and avoid the legal fees.
As a business owner, how will you feel when your employees or business are targeted? Are you going to force the female employee to perform the waxing? I would imagine there is procedural training prior to performing this type of waxing for which she is not qualified. Although if this area is now considered should the female employee come to the business with this certification and be required as a part of her job to do this? Does an employee have a right to deny participation in performing services you offer as a business? As a business owner, you must ask yourself, how are you legally exposed?
Let’s look a little further south. To Florida. See… I like my puns.
I completed Disney training in 1999 on “People Management”. It was amazing human resources training. But, the thing that stuck out to me was the selection process for the characters. There can be requirements, such as height, weight, and even skin color. WHAT????? Yes! Snow White is a fair skinned young thin woman. You’ll have to look it up, but the courts ruled that with theatrical characters, those with attributes not covered by a mask, can be selected based on physical attributes. Blah blah blah.
So what if Disney were in Canada?
Oh chrimmity, I’m not going “there” again. But here’s what I’m saying… you must be aware. Find out what your employees beliefs are, prepare and plan. If needed, check with your insurance agent to see if there are forms of insurance, I mean typically, there’s insurance for everything… it’s expensive, but it does exist.
However, make sure insurance covers what you expect it to cover. There was a boating incident about a year ago where a carbon monoxide leak killed one person and mentally damaged another person. The business thought it was covered for death/accidents with insurance… well, the insurance company actually stated that carbon monoxide is an environmental spill and therefore, not covered under the master policy, a rider would be needed. It’s a tragic situation. But imagine if you purchased insurance thinking you were covered only to discover that your life time of work, your business, and your home, could be gone in an instant.
Again, I’m not here to argue “emotion”. Loss of life and loss of quality of life is bad. What I’m here to do is show you that you need to stay aware.
Business owners often find themselves stuck in the middle. You have customers, employees, government, insurance, and more.
Stay informed. Surround yourself with good sources of information from professionals you work with to the topics you read online. But remember, things change quickly! A seemingly insignificant article about a court case in another country CAN affect you.
What does this have to do with my Tuesday topic of Content and Consistency? Well… was my article helpful? You see, content is not a chore, it’s not a dread, it’s your opportunity to share with your audience something of value that they need to know.
That’s why this case in Canada intrigued me. At the heart of it, they opened a shop designed to provide a service. Just like you opened a business designed to help people.
My advice… start enjoying your opportunity to share content with your tribe!
Big Money Small Change Success
Character + Content/Consistency + Goals/Motivation + Customers =
Infinity Marketing Machine
PS: thanks for reading! I really appreciate you being here. Make sure to “like” this post… and follow me! (and please do me a favor… if you want more great ideas like the one in this post, just fill out this form and I’ll send them to you… start here
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Action Steps
1- Be happy to share content – write information that your followers need! Share and they’ll appreciate it!
2- Install my free app! (SmallBusinessClubApp.com)
Podcast:
Listen to Episode #400 of the Two Minute Commute audio blog Podcast (OK – it’s longer than two minutes today… but WOW… 400 episodes, I’m psyched!)
Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!