Rehoboth Business Center

Posts Tagged ‘Investment’

The primary purpose of a business is to make money, preferably lots of it. This is the traditional view of entrepreneurship and the view held by many small business owners. The money is the essential goal and an end in itself. The specific business that the traditional entrepreneur enters is primarily a means to that end. The efficiency with which that particular business meets the goal of wealth is the prime, if not the only, yardstick by which the quality of the business venture is measured. The only other major consideration in determining whether a business venture is viable and appropriate is the level of risk entailed and whether that level of risk justifies the expected return. Many successful entrepreneurs in fact own several unrelated businesses and start or acquire new ones based largely (if not entirely) on their potential return on investment balanced against the perceived risk.

Most of the advice you’ll hear about starting a business, including most of the books on the subject, assume that businesses are started for making money first and foremost. It’s practically a truism that entrepreneurs must work much harder and for many more hours than they would for a boss. In fact, it is a badge of honor for most entrepreneurs to work 15-hour-plus days and be labeled a “workaholic.” The money and the perceived status money brings are reward enough for the long hours and the risk entailed. The expensive auto and other material symbols of wealth demonstrate success, at least on this one dimension.