Those who focus on profit rarely get it
Managing profit is impossible. That’s an oxymoron.
You can manage its elements.
Profit = Income – Expenses
And they aren’t equally manageable.
Your income depends on many people outside your business – your customers, competitors, distributors, etc.
Your expenses also depend on outsiders, but they are still more controllable.
Reducing costs is always:
– faster
– easier
When your strategic goal is ‘to increase profits,’ you subconsciously fixate on cost reduction.
Your brain always looks for shortcuts.
The focus on profit becomes your invisible inner enforcer.
It stops you every time you spend an extra cent, as it is ‘stolen’ from your profit.
Try another strategic goal:
‘Today, X customers use my products. Tomorrow, I want 10X customers to use them. That will bring me a lot of profit.’
It helps you focus on what matters most for your business – your customers.
As Steve Jobs said, “Manage the top line: your strategy, your people, and your products, and the bottom line will follow.”
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Read also: The Airline That Nosedived: Pitfalls of the low-price strategy
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