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We Should Care About People As Well As Profits
It’s not that money doesn’t matter — it does. But people should also matter.
A friend of mine, Andy, has a small business. It’s been around for over a decade now and he makes a good profit. However, when he was starting out, he and his wife Marie worked long hours and paid themselves very little. They actually made less than the minimum wage for the first three years.
There are reasons for this that any new business owner can understand.
New businesses make capital expenditures. Storefronts may need to be rented and furnished and products need to be bought. In my friend’s case, it was Apple products and services. He was filling a niche in his town.
At first he did most of the technical work while his wife manned the front desk and took care of the accounts, but they were both rapidly overwhelmed. He was putting in 70 hour weeks and she was putting in 50–60 hours.
They finally hired a couple of people — a technician to help with repairs so Andy could spend time on marketing and sales and a part-time receptionist so Marie could catch up on the paperwork.
They paid their people very well for the area. They actually paid above the going rate because they wanted to make sure their employees…
