Last week on Marketers Mojo Talk Radio I was speaking with LaTara Ham-Ying. The conversation turned to really knowing who you are in business and what you want from your life.
One of the traits I’ve always prided myself with is having great ethics.
I believe ethics comes down to having a fundamental need for fairness, equality, humility and genuine concern for others.
In business, how do you have ethics when you need to be cut-throat?
Well I don’t believe you have to be cut-throat. Especially not online. I believe you can be ethical and be a highly successful business person. I have to believe that because I REFUSE to be anything BUT Ethical and I REFUSE to be anything BUT Successful!
So what’s my definition of business ethics?
Well I think it is a combination of the following character traits in a business person:
Integrity – Sticking strictly to a moral code or ethical standards.
Honesty – To tell the truth, to never mislead by only disclosing the ‘attractive’ part of the truth and neglecting to disclose all information.
Sincerity – To be real, to never fake nice or interest to make sales.
Fairness – To do what’s right, to not take advantage and to be kind.
When it comes to the internet, I think there is the opportunity to have less than typical ethics because of the anonymity of it all. On the internet you can hide your face, your location and your true intentions easier than if you sat face to face with someone and boldly tried to cheat them. Well unless you’re a pathological liar.
That’s why I think as internet marketers it’s really important that we define and state our ethics publicly, then make sure to show them in our actions.
I’ve done this before through my Marketers Mojo Pledge:
How do you define ethics in your own business?
Is it ok to leave out some details? Is it ok to grab ideas from the competition? Is it ok to steal keywords, customers or affiliates from the competition? Where and how do you draw the lines and is it in line with your own personal ethics?
I know a lot of people who read my blog are moms like me and I think as women we sometimes struggle with being a little ‘too nice’ and it can hurt our business.
What do you think?
My burning question is, how fair/ethical is it to charge outrageous prices for e-books, when you can get the same or better information for half the price (or more!) at a bookstore?
What is outrageous? You have to look at whoever is selling the e-book had to buy it (perhaps hardcover and then scan it and format it to MP3 or whatever) or they are reselling under license in which case it is now your choice of convenience, i.e. do you want it for your kindle or would you rather have a physical copy that is only available to you at home? Most books if you look around and are willing to wait for 6 months will come down to reasonable levels regardless of format.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
It's a good question Emily. I was driving in my car a while ago and remember someone asking the same thing. It's not like digital versions cost anymore. I guess there could be an argument that since the internet is so new the information is just more valuable. Or it could be that people charge it because people will pay it but that's kind of a cycle.
You brought up a good point though about ethics and pricing. Is it ethical to charge a market who can't afford it outrageously large prices when about 95% of them will never succeed with the information anyway.
I certainly don't have all the answers but as an internet marketer I am always looking at what others are doing and making sure I fall into the top 1% in terms of ethics!
i would like to ask u a question.what is ethics in pricing?
Ethics in pricing is this: You have to recoup your costs and make a profit (unless you are a 501c3) or you’re not in business. There are formulae that will tell you how much to charge for your product and even if it is intellectual you still need to charge as if you made something. Or ask people who are in business (making something or reselling other products) and they will give you an idea ( tell them up front why you are asking) of what to charge. I am taking a Business Administration course at the local community college and I just learned there is an art to fixing prices on items even if they are imported ( what isn’t?).
If you price something too cheap people won’t buy because they will think it is made too cheap. Plus you have to look at where you are physically located ( income of area) and take that into consideration because the higher the income the more they will be willing to pay. The bottom line is don’t sell yourself short!
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
I'm not sure I understand your question? Obviously ethics is really a point of view and some people may disagree with a certain price on a product. I'm certainly not an expert on ethics though but I would think if you are pricing your product in a way that will enrich the lives of your customers rather than suck them dry that would be ethical.
Twitter: AngelaWills
says:
I'm not sure I understand your question? Obviously ethics is really a point of view and some people may disagree with a certain price on a product. I'm certainly not an expert on ethics though but I would think if you are pricing your product in a way that will enrich the lives of your customers rather than suck them dry that would be ethical.
Business ethics can cover so many things. In the sense of dealing with businesses, I find there are fewer with ethics today. Too many people just want to make a sale that they don’t seem to care about their customers. In the end the person who deals with your business and feels good about it will help your business grow.
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