It’s the best, most sustainable business plan. Always has been, always will be.
Across divides of language, culture, customs, and best business practices there is one thing that remains at the bedrock of any solid organization. It is the one thing that will — no matter what your product or service is — be the essential element of why your company is valuable. It is what customers yearn for, and what competitors strive to do better.
That thing is help.
You can sell people or other organizations any product — an app, server space, a machine, or just plain money (in the form of financing). You can create a marketing campaign that highlights the great things about your product, a list of the people or companies that have used it, and ratings from all sorts of satisfied customers. But it all has to speak to the same thing: how it will help.
Everyone has challenges — whether personal, professional, or spiritual. When a product, service, or person clearly shows that they can help with said challenges, and they deliver, the sky is the limit.
This is probably not a revelation to anyone. But at the same time, I don’t quite see it in the talk about scale, burn rates, IPOs, and other talk around the bonfire of business. That makes me a bit sad.
Your business should help people, or it likely won’t survive. Founders and executives should help people gain a foothold in business, learn the ropes, and find their talents. To that end, business — at its best — is about lasting relationships. It’s about lasting relationships with customers who trust the businesses they partner with. It’s about loyalty and service to employees, even when reciprocation is uncertain. It’s about lasting ties to, and service of the community — as far out as that community may go. It is help and relationships all the way down.
Again, this should not be a surprise. This is what life in general is all about. Why think business is any different?