Our Philosophy
on Culture

A positive culture fosters collaboration, innovation, and loyalty, which can lead to better business outcomes and a competitive advantage.

Get a Quote Call us (951) 900-4925

How To Build A Good Company Culture

John Rowa giving a thumbs up at Riverside office

Culture Starts With Your People

When Lemonade Stand was just about a 4 or 5 person shop, I wasn’t thinking about how to build a good company culture.

It wasn’t until disaster struck one of the members of our team, that I fully comprehended what I wanted our culture to be.

I had recently hired the third member of our team because his Google+ profile said that he was a “brown, balding, and genuinely nice guy.” I didn’t care about the brown and balding, but I really wanted to work with a genuinely nice guy, and John seemed like a nice guy.

Stand By Your Team

Then one day, and I’ll never forget it, John got some news that would turn his world upside down.

John got the news that his mom had cancer. Out of the blue, John’s hero, this amazing selfless lady was facing the biggest challenge of her life. Within weeks, she was in hospice… and then she was gone.

Each of us, got on our best clothes and headed to John’s childhood church to honor such a lady and to support John. I don’t think it was until then, as we were standing there together mourning with John that I truly understood “culture.”

John Rowa and his mother

What Culture Means to Lemonade Stand

greg-john-chris

Culture, to me, is much more than the way we do business. It’s the way we do life.

It’s how we view our coworkers. It’s how we mourn with them, comfort them, support them, and celebrate them.

It’s how we help others grow, how we lift others up, and how we live by the defined set of values we set for ourselves. It’s how accountable we are to members of our team, our squad, our unit.

“We will spend more than one-third of our waking life with these people, in a company, within a culture,” said John. “So why not have it be with people you like and a culture you enjoy.”

If you can do nothing else during your working career aside from helping to build an amazing culture in the company you work with, you will have accomplished a great feat.

Always Keep Learning

As time went on in our company, John recuperated. Scarred, but not beaten. He was knocked on his back. We were ready to help pick him back up.

John is now the President of our company and has been instrumental in helping establish the culture we all desire. He had been down… and we patiently helped pick him back up. Because of his grit, and humility, he was able to rise out of hard times and become an anchor to our company and culture.

Now it’s his job to lift others when they get knocked down, which he does on a regular basis.

And that is the foundation on which to build a good company culture.

John Rowa at Utah Office

Our Core Values

Smile

We believe it all begins with a smile. When we were in college, we noticed a saying on McDonald’s drive-thru menu that read, “Smiles are Free”, so every time we went through the drive-thru we asked for some free smiles. We normally always received better service after asking for some smiles. So, we’ve asked all of our team members to smile and create smiles on a daily basis. Our customer service seems to fall into place if we have retained a smile on our face through good times and challenging times.

Listen… Really… Listen.

This core value represents our policy when someone is communicating with you: “Don’t think about what you’re going to say next. Just listen.” Most people can’t communicate well because they are only thinking about what comes next instead of truly thinking about what the other person is really saying and then structuring their response based upon the point of view of the other person. Effective communication makes or breaks businesses, families and friendships.

Serve Others First.

Most people think often of themselves and rarely about others. Our culture is built around serving others first. We know that if we take care of our clients, our clients will take care of us. In fact, our entire business model is built around investing in our clients, and hoping that it all comes back full circle to establish a long-term mutually beneficial relationship.

Be Honest.

We need to be honest with others and honest with ourselves. If we give it to others straight, then we’ll never get into the dilemma of promising and not being able to deliver. We are a WYSIWYG company, nothing more and nothing less. We can only improve, grow and develop if we are truly honest with ourselves. Self-honesty leads to the all-important attribute of humility.

Do What You Say, Say
What You Mean.

If we say we’re going to do something, then we had better do it. We need to be men and women of our word, and instill confidence in our customers and co-workers by being consistent in our words and deeds.

Be Humble.

Growth never takes place in organizations or in individuals unless the people are humble. We understand that our clients trust us and pay us for our time. We will always be appreciative of them and find ways to recognize what we could do better. Then we go the extra mile.

Stay Excited and Upbeat.

Nothing is worse than talking to someone on the phone, in person or by email who appears to be indifferent to their project. We need to show excitement and be upbeat about every aspect of our business, from creating beautiful websites to driving leads to resolving billing concerns. This attitude needs to become a habit across every aspect of our lives.

Always Keep Learning.

We’re all rowing upstream; and if you’re not rowing the boat, then you’re going backwards. Complacency is detested, stagnation is abhorred, and laziness is forbidden. We are committed to being excellent by continuing to learn our trade and develop new ways of performing our craft.

Pay Attention to Detail.

It has been and always will be the little things that set the good companies apart from the great ones. It’s the same for individuals. When we pay attention to detail, we set ourselves apart as the best of the best. Very few individuals pay careful attention to detail. To be excellent, we strive to nail the details.

Get Followed.

If someone is following us, then we know we’re doing something great. The goal to “Get Followed” is preceded by creativity, ingenuity, and hard work. We strive every day to be more creative than we were the day before. We know we have a good service and now it’s just a matter of reinventing ourselves on a daily basis and committing to excellence.

See the Big Picture.

Sacrifice what you want now for what you want most later. Don’t “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel” – It will never turn out in your favor. No explanation needed.

Lemonade Stand Riverside Team

A Culture of Love

I believe that love should be the underlying characteristic of good company culture. If you remember how this blog opened up, I talked about a few of our founding team members.

Our founding team members were loving, empathetic, and caring toward each other and were dedicated to the long-term vision and culture of the company. That, I believe, is what has enabled us to work so well together.

That is also what I believe has made it so easy for others to come on board and feel loved and accepted as well.

That is also what I believe enables us to push each other to be better, to do better, to work hard, to work smart, and to be accountable to each other, to our clients, and ultimately to humanity.

We, each of us, genuinely want the best for each other, and for humanity. We hire good people, with good hearts, because our core values expect nothing less.

Build, Grow, & Measure Your Online Presence.

Contact our digital marketing specialists today to find out what we can do for your business!

(801) 900-5451