Business is business and most people who are in business are in it to make money.
Many are in for charitable reasons as well, but reality is this…we all need money.
We are in business to profit, make money, enjoy life and be successful.
Many people have said that you shouldn’t do business with friends or family. To some extent, I agree with that. But, if you make things perfectly clear you shouldn’t have any issues. Let the friends or family that you’re doing business with know outright that this is your business, you need to be paid for your service/time/product and conduct business as always…like your business.
If you’re in business and have people who work for you or perhaps you own a direct sales company and have consultants that work for you, you’ll want to ensure they know that you run your business as a business. There is no favoritism, there are no excuses, there is simply business…after all…business is business.
That said, that does not mean you shouldn’t be friends with people you do business with. There is a fine line, one that all parties involved need to be aware of and understand and respect.
There may be circumstances where a judgement call is needed regarding business and some leniency in a situation; however, if this happens on a regular basis you’ll need to address the issue and get back down to business.
You can’t please everyone all of the time…that’s just a disaster waiting to happen if you try.
It’s your business, you need to be able to do what has to be done to make it a success, to do right, to do beneficial things for the community.
If something isn’t profitable or cost effective, get rid of it.
If somebody isn’t producing and are costing you time or money, consider replacing them with someone who can do what’s required. Does that sound harsh? Perhaps, but reality is this…business is business.
If someone can’t do their duty, then you need to find someone who can, unless you enjoy paying people who are inept or incompetent.
Businesses close their doors when they don’t make executive decisions like when it’s time to downsize people or products that aren’t profitable to the business. If you’re in business, you need to make sure to run it as a business and know when it’s time to make business decisions that may or may not be understood by all but in the long run, when the day is over, it’s your business, your profits (or lack thereof) that you need to make the final decision on how your business is going to be run and do whatever it takes for that business to be profitable and succeed so you can continue on and be able to provide as well as help others (be it financial or otherwise).