Making money versus making a mark

This is the line we walk as small business owners. We start our businesses hoping to do both. Somewhere, however the bottom line... the ability to support ourseves becomes more important than our professional aspirations.

It's not the end of the world if we forget our way for a while in order to put food on the table and clothes on our backs. At some point however, as the financial aspect of business ownership improves we need to find our way back to making the work meaningful, otherwise, we will quickly tire of it.

The funny thing, is that once you get to the point where you can make work meaningful, in many cases, it also becomes more profitable. Go figure.

This article focuses on helping employers make work meaningful for employers, but I think it applies well to business owners too. Here's an excerpt:

According to research by Adam Grant, an associate professor of management at the Wharton School, making this connection doesn’t just improve morale. It also has a huge impact on the bottom line. Grant has discovered that when people get to meet a living, breathing person who benefits from their work, their job performance skyrockets. In one study, Grant found that university fund-raisers who listened to a scholarship recipient tell how the assistance had benefited him increased by 200% the number of weekly calls they made to potential donors. The average amount of funds they brought in jumped 500%, from $400 per week to more than $2,000 per week.

read full article

What you DON'T want to advertise on your vehicle

I was driving along today and noticed a truck with very large writing on the back window. It said "Don't Spread My Wealth Spread My Work Ethic". It seemed like a fair enough comment. The truck was covered with writing, and we were at a stoplight, so I kept reading.

I saw an Obama style bumper sticker that said "Buck Fama". Nice I thought. I kept reading. Under the political bumper stickers, was a business logo. In fact the entire side of the truck was covered with a business logo. But it doesn't really matter to me what the truck was advertising... it could have been selling ice cream from heaven, I was turned off by the vulgar bumper sticker.

This business man made several fatal errors when advertising politics on his business van.

1. The size of the political advertisement distracted from the business logos, thereby making people focus on it and not his adverstising.

2. One of the advertisements was (slyly) vulgar and thereby off putting.

3. He should have save politics for his personal car. By putting this strong statement on his car, he has sent a good amount of potential customers to the competition. People will work with you until you start discussing politics. As soon as they realize your politics might differ, well, you could lose customers.

It is hard to see the most offensive bumper sticker, but see the picture below to see how the political statement takes away from the other advertisment. At a stop light, you only have so much time to read the truck in front of you... Mine was taken up by the bumper sticker and lettering on the window. Fortunately I took a picture.

How's Business?

"Business has been tough for many companies, but recent reports have shown that businesses may be turning the corner... The worst may be over"

How is business going for you?

Personally, I have had to adapt and adjust and even change gears and focus to survive. I am considering diversifying when I have always preached on staying focused on one core business.

What have you had to do to survive? Talk back.