Everybody wants more money. Most people are not willing to do what it takes to make more money. And the people who want money the most are often mistaken about what they need to attract the money they want. Much of what they do repels money from them.
People Are the End
If you put money before people you will have trouble making money. This does not mean that you should not run a profitable business, that you should not care about your fiscal responsibilities, or that you should not have goals and targets.
By treating people as a means to an end that is money, you set priorities in such a way that money becomes difficult to gain. By treating people as an ends in and of themselves, you make it easier to acquire money.
Clients Are the End
If you put money before your clients or customers you will have a tough time “extracting” the money you want from their checkbooks.
Putting your customers before money doesn’t mean that you should reduce your price to win the clients you need. Valuing your current clients more than you value money does not require that you make unnecessary “investments” in buying the business. What it means is that by valuing your clients more than you value money, you make money easier to acquire.
The Money Follows
Money, especially profit, accrue to those who create value for others. Those who create greater value make greater money. Those who create greater value for even more people, make even more money.
Revenue is the result of selling well and taking care of your clients. Gross profit is the result of a good business model. Net profit is the result of excellent leadership, good management, and fiscal discipline.
In business, increasing revenue and profit is the result of doing 1,000 things right, chief among those are valuing people and teaching them to do purposeful and meaningful work for clients about whom you care deeply.
Money, in all its various forms, is an outcome.