I hear a lot about how to start a new business or product line. What startles me the most about these discussions (at least the ones I hear most frequently) is how backwards they are. The person I am discussing with will start out by asking, “What can I sell that will make money?” To me, this is approaching a business in the wrong order.
 
In my opinion, there are two important motivations for starting a business. First, you have to be passionate about what you are selling. Secondly, there should be a healthy demand and undercrowded market for it. The people with whom I discuss business that ask, “What can I sell that will make money?” are missing the point. They only want business as a means to an end: wealth. They think wealth will satisfy them. ROI, king of thieves.
 
But I think the best businesses are run by those who see the businsess as the end. Running your business, or if you’re an employee, marketing/fulfilling/supporting your product should fulfill you in some way. You should be happy that you offer this product or service.
 
This sort of thinking trickles down into all sorts of practicle applications in everyday business. When you’re thinking more about how to meet the needs and wants of your customers and less about how to make a quick buck, you’re more likely to innovate/create/stumble upon something that is actually worthwhile and contributes to the general community. When you’re deciding how to design a page on a website, do you think more about how helpful it is for a visitor or are you worried about whether it will get crawled, indexed, and ranked for a specific keyword by Google?
 
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be concerned about SEO or any kind of online marketing. Marketing efforts (online and offline) are important. But if you are a company that doesn’t care more about its customer than its immediate ROI, in the long run I think your marketing is bunk. With all the talk about value propositions, I think it’s worth mentioning that being a great company in the eyes of consumers is a fantastic and compelling value proposition. Letting consumers see that you’re a company made up of real people who are excited about what they do is maybe one of the most important things you can do.
 
That’s my $0.02.