Business Success Thursday Volume 252! What is Business?

Here is another extract from our upcoming book, The Premier Way!...

So, what is business?

This is a big question and a very important one. Everything we do in life is connected with business in some way. Eg: our house was built by a builder. Our food comes from the farmers. Our clothes come from a factory. Our petrol comes from a fuel station. Our bike was built by a manufacturer as was our car etc etc. We are served by businesses all day long. We cannot survive in this world without business. They support everything we do and need.

For a start, none of us can survive unless we have a job and the customer is buying. The customer pays for everything in our lives. At PGNZ we are all very keenly aware of this fact.

Some may argue that life is ok without a job as the govt will support us. But this is not correct. Where does the govt money come from? Taxes of course! And where do the taxes come from? You and me! And everybody who has a job or is self employed. And even those on a benefit still pay tax too eg GST on all goods and services that they buy. So we pay tax so they can survive, then they pay tax on the money we have earned for them.

So in essence, business exists for our survival. But it is much more than that. Good business helps us all to not only survive but to thrive! To get ahead in life! To help others. To pay it forward. To give back.

Business gives us a platform for like minded people to come together as a team or a tribe and to build something special. It is really the only place where individuals can achieve true self-actualization, the peak of the hierarchy of human needs. Where people can become the best version of themselves.

Compare your life now to life 100 years ago. It doesn’t take much to realise that in the 100 years, incredible, mind blowing progress and advancement has been made in the way that we live and the luxury that surrounds us.

Business is based on solving problems for people. So as business grows and improves, so too the products and services. Innovation thrives and things keep on improving endlessly.

A business does not exist unless it is solving a real world problem.

Without business, we would still be living in the dark ages. No running water, no sewerage system, no cars, no hospitals, no rest homes, no police, no courts, no peace, no nothing! We would all be living in constant fear about our safety and our survival.

Everything that we take for granted in our everyday lives is thanks to the basic principle of free market capitalism.

Competition between businesses drives innovation and progress every day! And who wins? The customer! You and me!

So thanks to business our lives improve every day, every month, every year!

Thanks to business we have a 9 to 5 community to be together and to do meaningful work together. To improve the lives of our team and our customers.

A job gives us purpose and focus and meaning. A job = wellbeing. We cannot achieve true wellbeing without a job. A job gives us status and a sense of pride. It gives us an income and a career path. It give us an opportunity to achieve our most important life goals.

Ask anyone who has been on an unemployment benefit and they will tell you how demeaning it is, how depressing it is and how having all this extra time on their hands leads to bad and unhealthy habits and actions. It leads to regret. And in the worst cases it leads to a life of perpetual misery. Sadly so many people abuse this social safety net and give up all their dreams, goals, self worth and pride. Absolutely tragic!

Human beings thrive on positive social connections and the sense that their life is moving forward everyday, that they are making progress. No one in their right mind wants their life and circumstances to be in decline.

But beware! All this Luxury makes us lazy and complacent and selfish! It is so easy to take everything we have for granted and to not fully appreciate all the sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears that has brought us to this point in time. It behoves us all to take a moment each day to reflect and write down a list of what we are grateful for today. To keep us grounded and thankful and humble.

Sadly the world is still full of examples where selfish leaders have blocked or restrained free market capitalism and they have poverty, famine, war, strife, tragedy and sorrow upon sorrow. This could all be changed with real leadership. Servant leaders. Unselfish leaders who really understand what it takes to build a great team and business.

As we say at PGNZ, everybody has a chance to grab the brass ring! This means we all have a fair chance at succeeding. We all have massive growth and learning and career advancement opportunities at PGNZ. The only thing that holds anyone back here is an individual mindset. Limiting beliefs. So we train our people a lot about mindset and how to break free of any limiting beliefs and think big. There is true magic in thinking big!

So in conclusion: Business is a force for good. It is essential. We cannot live without it. We cannot survive without it. We cannot thrive and flourish and prosper without it.

P.S. At Premier Business Academy we have tonnes of great resources to help you on this journey and support you along the way! Please feel free to email me back or go to: www.premierbusinessacademy.co.nz

Cheers to your success!

Bernard and the team at Premier Group NZ!