The primary key to ‘making money’ is to understand that there are two economies, not just one. Most people only see one economy, which helps to explain why they don’t make much money. The ‘2nd economy’ is the one most people recognize and respond to, and this economy surrounds every business. The ‘2nd economy’ consists of external realities such as government policy, banking policy, currency exchange rates, unemployment levels, consumer confidence, competitive industry pressure, the weather, etc. What can a business do to control the ‘2nd economy’? The answer is nothing, for the ‘2nd economy’ is made up of all our collective efforts, good and bad.
The many businesses that see only the ‘2nd economy’ are hamstrung, because they feel success is mostly dependent on external conditions. And let’s face it, external conditions are rarely favourable.
However, while we can do nothing to remove, change or improve the ‘2nd economy’, we have complete control of the ‘1st economy’, which is just as well for this is the most important economy by far! The ‘1st economy’ consists of the internal opportunities accessible to all businesses, such as analysis and planning, marketing, service, selling, management, research, supplier alliances, staff development and more besides. Who can stop a business from spending time working on these internal factors? No one! If you want to work and plan harder, do more analysis, improve service and selling skills, train staff to be more creative and productive, organize meetings with staff and suppliers to consider new success strategies, invite experts to help you, attend business courses, read business development books … you can do as much as you like.
So point one in ‘making money’ is to appreciate that you are dependent on your own efforts, and not on the circumstances surrounding your business. This does not mean that you should ignore the ‘2nd economy’; we should all know about potential dangers and be prepared for them.
The secondary key to making money is to know where it is, and where it is not. Too many businesses mistakenly think that money is found with customers, but this is not true. For a start there is no such thing as ‘customers’, meaning that customers do not go home at night to ‘Customer-Land’! Customers are people, and it is people who have the money. Precious metals are not found on the earth’s surface, if they were they would have no value. Real money is not found with customers, if it was it would be too easy and every business would be successful. Here is a simple example of what I mean. My wife visited a new dentist to see about a filling, and the dental nurse asked her to respond to some questions on a document called ‘The Smile Evaluation’. The questions asked how she felt about her smile, the colour and shape of her teeth, and what she most wanted to improve in the appearance of her teeth. According to my wife the questions took two minutes to complete, and according to my calculations this incident has cost us $8,000 so far! My wife, as a patient (or customer) wanted just a filling, but as a person she was naturally interested to learn how she could improve her looks. The dentist looked for and found the person behind the patient, and there was the obligation to help the patient look her best … and the opportunity to make some real money!
TO ‘MAKE MONEY’ YOU MUST SEE TWO ECONOMIES … NOT JUST ONE! - To learn more about this author, visit John Lees's Website.
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John Lees
(Visit John's Website)
Former director of marketing & sales for
Schwarzkopf in Australia and NZ, achieving
market leadership (against the giants
'L'Oreal and Wella) and best operations
internationally for the organisation. Then
worked as a consultant to the German
company in the US, Canada, the UK, South
Africa and leading Western European
markets. These days operates as a speaker,
trainer and consultant...specialising in
sales & marketing. Author of 10 books on
business development and a member of the
Institiute of management consultants.
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