You start with a financial vision, reflected in your pricing and marketing. This results in benefits for your clients, your outputs. But actually, your clients’ experience includes outcomes beyond immediate benefits. The client who solves their immediate problem experiences improvements in the rest of their lives. They join their vision to yours and see their vision realised as they improve their performance. But who else benefits from financial success?
The real value of financial success is to see your business purpose realised through changes in the lives of people around you, your business outcomes.
Other Businesses
Your success inspires others, gives them hope. These do not always become competitors. If you increase prices, you are likely to need fewer clients and so there will be more people in the market than you can handle.
It is possible your success will increase the market. Your response could include:
- Expand and take on staff
- Work in partnership
- Offer training to help others engage with your new market
Your vision is important here. You don’t want your market flooded with fly-by-night coaches who do not understand it and discredit your approach. Supporting those interested in supporting your vision can result in greater expansion and benefits to all involved.
Investment
Investment is not limited to money. With more money and time, you can invest in causes; into the vision behind your business.
Your reputation and expertise becomes valuable to others and various causes welcome association with your business. In the early days you are likely to have credibility without being well-known. You can choose what you support and present your credentials when you need to.
Should you invest for free? Investment implies payback and I always advocate working out of self-interest; remember the basic rule of mutuality: “I help myself when I help others.” So, yes, by all means choose causes that support your business aims, including financially but remember generosity is your aim.
Family and Friends
Others who benefit from financial success are family and friends. It’s not that you have more money to spend on them. Your success is likely to be modest in the light of claims made by many marketers. Remember the Pareto principle, 80% of the money made through business will be held by 20% of businesses.
This partly accounts for business failures. However, you don’t have to be in the top 20% to be viable as a business. Just aim for sustainability.
The value to family and friends is your presence, being there for them and not an absent benefactor. Your aim is to find an equilibrium, where you balance work and lifestyle to be able to help others do so too.
This post brings my posts about the second, financial aim of businesses to a conclusion. But it opens up the path for further exploration of your third lifestyle aim.
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Please comment and let me know what you like about this post. What would you like me to write about further?