It's essential, when running your own business, to make sure that your sales and marketing activities are serving the business, and not just your ego.
A friend of mine who is an investor in a food product company told me last week that he was struggling with the rest of the ownership team because even though their largest profit margins (by far) came from online sales, they were not interested in pursuing additional revenue there. Instead, they wanted to focus on retail sales exclusively.
I asked him if that was because one of the owners had their ego tied up in being in retail outlets. It's an easy thing to do - to allow your ego to push business decisions, because you want to be widely known, or see your product on a shelf, or to say that you closed a big deal with a retail giant. But if the numbers don't work, you aren't working in service of the business. You are simply working in service of your ego.
Having advisors around who can call your BS on these things is essential, and being honest about your motives helps, too. Look, we all have egos. But nothing bruises the ego quite as much as a failed business.
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