Are You Running A Poor Business?
By: Alem Belton
Tags: Business, Morality, Life Lessons

Photo by Pepi Stojanovski on Unsplash

Business is booming. Profits are through the roof and everyone’s slapping high fives and sipping champagne. But, underneath the bubbles and stinging palms lies a ticking time bomb. Your morality in exchange for dollar signs?

Revolutionary Industrialist, Henry Ford once said, “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.” What does this quote mean to you? For me, the meaning was clear from the period.

Having made a lot and squandered a lot of money I for one can attest to the tug of war that goes on between a human beings moral compass and their desire to line their pockets. Sure I’d like to make lots of money and gain my financial freedom, but I don’t want to sacrifice my morals to capture it.

If you’re just in business to make money then you’re bound to eventually take a hit morally and financially. Just think about it. If your sole purpose is to make money then you will never be rich. Huh? Are you confused? I didn’t make a mistake there.

If the opposite of ‘poor’ is ‘rich’ then let’s look at that definition for a second. From Merriam-Webster, Rich is defined as “having abundant possessions and especially material wealth. Having a high value or quality.” Other words mentioned in the definition include, meaningful, significant, lush, remunerative, and vivid”. Now let’s look at the word ‘poor’.

Poor — Lacking material possessions

b : of, relating to, or characterized by poverty

2a : less than adequate : MEAGER

b : small in worth. Exciting pity. Inferior in quality or value. HUMBLE, UNPRETENTIOUS. MEAN, PETTY. LEAN, EMACIATED. BARREN, UNPRODUCTIVE. INDIFFERENT, UNFAVORABLE. Lacking a normal or adequate supply of something specified -often used in combination

Connecting the dots yet? Just because you’re making money doesn’t mean you’re rich and just because you don’t have money doesn’t mean you’re poor. Of course, having money is the ultimate goal amongst the two choices, but that’s only because our economic system has us reliant upon it.

The moment your business sets all goals on making money that’s when the time bomb gets set. Sooner or later your customers will realize that you only look at them as a number and they will move on. The exodus might be slow, but eventually, it will become a trend. Once that happens KA-BOOM.

The truth is, if I threw all my morals out the window I could make millions. It’s not that difficult to make money with a cold heart. But, that’s not who I am. If that’s not who you keep reading.

No one wants to give their hard-earned money to a company they don’t respect. Sure, they’ll do it for a while if it makes life easier but the moment another option presents itself they will leave. Play the long game people.

I know it’s hard to make money and have morals, but sacrificing who you are is far too high a price to pay. You will never get your ROI (Return On Investment). If you’re just starting out go back and take a deep look at the definition of ‘rich’ again and shoot for those stars.

If you’ve already started and somehow found yourself on the dark side of the force. You know rich/poor? No worries you can still cut the yellow, blue or red wire right now to stop the clock. Just like in the movies. The main goal here is to be neither rich nor poor by the popular definitions of our society.

I know it’s difficult to keep your moral compass in a capitalist economy but if one strives to be; abundant in possessions and material wealth, have a high value or quality, be meaningful, significant, lush, remunerative, and vivid, then the goal is to not only to be ‘rich’ financially. The goal is to be RICH in every sense of the word. That is something that money alone can not buy.