Profits vs. Benefits: What Should You Really Look For!

Right about now, many of us are busy getting busy and making plans for 2019. We are looking back on last year’s results and tallying up all of our costs and revenues, all in an aim to discover profits! We want to know exactly how well we did. We want to know which of our efforts yielded the best results and which ones we should maybe abandon next year. When we are sure about what happened last year, we can reasonably set our goals and plan our strategy for next year. That makes sense, right? We will know what we should do to maintain or grow our profitability. This basically is management by the P&L statement, as if that’s all that really matters.

Everywhere you turn “profit” is considered the ultimate measure of success! With profit, it seems that you have the chance to have more, be more, and do so much more. I was just listening to my pastor give a wonderful sermon and he mentioned all of the charitable good that our church does with it’s over 1 million dollars spent on various programs that care for others in need last year. Clearly, we are using our profits well. The notion hit me that we are doing good but at the same time I begin to wonder if there is more to this profitability thing that we should consider. There is so much recent evidence that suggests that profitability does give you more options to do good.  Still, it doesn’t create happiness, does it? The suicide rate among the wealthy might tell a different story; a very different story indeed. Even Hemingway suggests there just might be more to life than the easy-to-measure stuff.

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” ― Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden

I’ve got a thought that I want to share with you that may in some instances shake the core of your belief system and in some be a pleasant reminder that you are on the right path. But before we get into the big idea here, let’s straighten out a few terms.

First profit. As a noun, it is considered a financial gain, the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something. As a verb, it is to obtain a financial advantage or benefit, especially from an investment. Economically speaking we talk about profit as the calculation or intersection between marginal cost and marginal revenue. Notice here that we usually talk about profit regarding finance. It’s always about money!

Why is that?

Is there another way to gain? Are there other types of costs that aren’t financial? Are there other ways to benefit or advantage? Of course, there is!

So, let’s back into this from the end.  Let’s just say that all of us want benefits and advantages in life. The same kinds of benefits that profits can help us with. We all want to be more, to have more, and to do more. And let’s suggest just for argument sake that benefits or advantages can be other than financial. That’s possible, right? Ok then, that leaves us with a wide range of considerations for success.

Let’s talk first about benefits. What are they and why are they important? 

Benefits are often described as an advantage or profit gained from something. There’s that “profit” word again!! You see when it comes to benefit and profit, these two words are synonymous!!

Some would argue that this word benefit has more to do with purpose than anything else. Seneca says that “A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.” How many times have you given a gift to someone that you didn’t put very much thought or energy into only to be blown away by the seemingly increasing level of the receiver’s gratitude? I mean every time you see them years later, they are still remarking about the time that you did this or that for them and how they could never repay you.  In this case, the return was much greater than anticipated, right? It might even be too much!

I remember growing up. My parents would remind me that “it was not the gift that mattered, but it was the thought that counted!” Well, my friends, it didn’t take long for the hard knocks in life to come along and help to rearrange my thoughts about these not-so-wonderful “thoughts” of others. I begin to believe that “thoughts”, in fact, were easy to come by and therefore cheap. Because of this, they really didn’t deserve much appreciation. I came to this conclusion because no one really seemed to appreciate any of my thoughts. I mean I was told constantly, “boy, go somewhere with your crazy self” or “if you don’t hush all that foolishness, you’ll wish that you had.” Does any of that sound familiar to you? I mean I quickly began to think that my parents just said things to children just to say stuff, so I had to just figure this thing out and draw my own conclusions. I’d have to go at this life thing alone. Thank God, my parents hung in there long enough with me for me to come to my senses. Now that I’m older and more experienced I feel quite differently.

Now, I realize that “thoughts”, precede all action and more importantly good thoughts lead to delightful results with people. The trick is to get them to think deeply with a level of focus; the kind that creates clarity of intention. Those thoughts are priceless indeed. Without them, nothing good happens on the micro or macro level. So, what am I saying here?

Quality ideas yield higher benefits!

That’s what I am saying. You see, “quality” is the same as value or worth. The dictionary has these words as synonyms to each other. We simply appreciate higher quality over anything of lesser value, don’t we? I would suggest to you that quality is everything! It is the very sweetness of life that is always desirable. We want high-quality relationships, we want high-quality healthcare, we want a high-quality education, high-quality digital imagery, music, film, food, sleeping quarters, air, water, roads, and the list goes, on and on and on and on. I mean we want everything, and we want it all to be high-quality, right? Hell, those of us that do drugs, want high-quality drugs! Quite naturally, you’d think that quality would have a lot to do with cost and price, right? I’d say that when it comes to material things, you’d be absolutely right to think that way, but then how would you explain “quality time” and the mutual emotional satisfying results you get in return. It’s a mystery of the soft skills that upon exploration isn’t really all that mysterious.

Let’s do the math

I said earlier that profit and benefit are synonymous, right? It seems that we can measure benefits in quite a similar fashion. We know economically that when the cost goes down, revenue goes up. Somewhere where these two ideas connect, you reach maximum profitability. It’s here that you want to stay because that’s where all of the best advantages are. When we look at benefits, it turns out that the math is the same. It’s easy to see that as quality goes down accessibility goes up therefore, we reach maximum benefit at the intersection of quality and accessibility. 

Obviously, when we ask ourselves, what is good enough, when it comes to quality? The answer might be when I can access the maximum benefit, it’s good enough. Anything more would seem to be a waste. By the way, is there such a thing as too much quality? That one is easy. Have you ever felt smothered by someone else’s attention? So much so that other parts of your life seemed to suffer. Companies have to ask this question often when it comes to talent development. How much is too much before productivity is negatively affected? You obviously wouldn’t want to scrimp on the quality of training, but you also don’t want to overdo it either that would be a waste.

What I’ve learned over the years is that when I’m good at looking out for the benefits, that I want to receive, and those that I want to share, I immediately begin to understand how much time, effort, or financial resources need to be committed. I become aware as to whether I have what it takes to gain access to this benefit or not. Whether or not I have the resources needed is quite another issue but usually a solvable one. No matter what, I first must bring a clear understanding of the benefits that I seek into my consciousness. I need to be able to articulate and share them in a meaningful way. You see, benefits are easy to articulate when you look at who you are and what you want personally. Like nothing else, they help open the door to real vision!

So, who are you? 

You are the sum total of your heart, mind, body, and soul as they exist today, right now.  You exist in every role that you perform whether it’s father, daughter, coworker, subordinate, leader, or owner. The benefits of the life and business that you want to have are all tied up in these ideas. Let me explain.

In my heart, I want to receive the kindness and compassion of others. I want to be well respected and appreciated for my talents and contributions. I want to be brave and earn lots of trust!

In my mind, I want to be clear and focused so that I can experience the sweetness of life. I want to accumulate wisdom and spread it among my family, friends, and community. I want to leave an intellectual legacy that says that I was here and then I made significant contributions to the forward flow of history through my writings and discourse. For this, I need my intellectual faculties to be sharp. I need to be able to hold my own in discussions and appreciate the finer things in life.

Maintaining a quality standard of wellness for my body is critical to experiencing a good life. I want the ability to run, jump and play until the end. I want to maintain the advantage of strength and flexibility so that I can perform physically and enjoy meaningful connections with others. I don’t want to be sidelined or marginalized because I haven’t taken care of myself.

My connection to the eternal needs to be healthy and strong. I believe that God placed me here for a purpose that admittedly sometimes alludes me. But, never the less, it is the relentless pursuit of that purpose that is ultimately fulfilling and challenging to my soul. I enjoy studying and conversing on spiritual matters as a way to exercise and grow stronger in my connection with the universe and all of its’ truths, known and unknown.

I also want to be the best that I can be in every role that I play in life. I am aware however that this is most often if not always defined by others. I’ll know that I am a great father when my daughter says so. I know that I’m a great husband when my wife says so. I’ll be a great entrepreneur not just when I’m profitable but when my community and peers say so. To this end, I’ve got to seek and be attentive to all feedback from everywhere and everyone. 

The other benefits come from knowing the rules of every game that you play (I call these principles) and then having the right set of values to play well with your own unique flair. Again, this starts with your conscious understanding of the benefits that you seek and the ability to shut out competing priorities for your attention. I know for a fact that I want to create and continue a world-class training and development organization. That might just be an amazingly great goal that can even point to some things I’ve got to do or some direction that I need to move in. But a goal alone is nowhere near as impactful or as motivating as imagining what I can be, do, or have as a result of becoming the leader of an organization that impacts the lives of millions in the most powerful way. What’s needed for that is a vision! Vision alone is the genuine phenomenal idea that absolutely gives the kind of thoughtful consideration to the true power of benefits!

But people seem to have such a hard time with vision. Why do they agonize over something so simple? All one has to do is to think of the ultimate trajectory of their talent and BAM!! That’s vision! For instance, if I take my speaking and teaching skills as far as possible, I’ll be known all over the world as one of the most prolific advocates of small business ever. I’ll have to manage tremendously intense publishing and speaking schedules. I’ll have to maximize my use of various technologies to share my lessons broad and wide. I’ll be appearing on various TV shows and be asked to share my ideas in conferences and stages around the world. I’ll be an advisor to national leaders on how and why they should put considerable resources towards the development of business and financial education for children and adults. I will have developed and recommended the best professional development tools for business leaders. I’ll probably be traveling so much that I have privileges in hotels and ports all over the world so that my family will get to travel and experience the world with me. I could go on and on with this imagery and I’m willing to bet, so can you. See how easy it is. Just let yourself dream and imagine. Don’t forget to write it down. 

You see once you truly understand the benefits that you want to receive, all you have to do is to figure out the quality that you must bring to the table and then determine how much accessibility or attention you’ll need to give this thing. You’ll need to make a few tweaks and adjustments along the way but keep your hands on the steering wheel and hit the gas. It's "go time!"

Now, I hope that you can see a clear distinction between chasing a profitable vs. a beneficial existence. You’ll go far either way, but one will lead to the bliss of absolute happiness and connection with the world around you and the other, you’ll just have to be satisfied with just being successful. Which one do you want? I thought that you’d say that!

I’ll see you in the winner’s circle!

-Coach Powell

This is the kind of stuff I help business leaders do all of the time. In fact, this is exactly why I created the VisionQuest Planning Guide?! I know that when people can actually codify their vision and align everything that they do with it, not only will their goals make sense but it will ignite a fire in them that won’t be easily quenched. If you’d like a copy of the planning guide for FREE just inbox me here and I’ll send it to just write #VisionQuestGuide in the comment section and I’ll send it to you as soon as I can. Also, if you are in the Washington Metro Area, you might want to participate in our upcoming events just check here and come back often for new dates as they arise.