The American Dream Of Small Business

The American Dream means many different things to many different people. For small and medium-size business owners, it has always been about the capability of controlling one’s own destiny. In other words, the accumulation of enough positive net worth in a liquid state to make determinations based on your family and your own best interest.

For all the blood, sweat and tears that an entrepreneur puts into his business, it is only reasonable to assume that the business should begin to pay back the owner for all of the hard work, dedication, loyalty and skill sets. Very few American business owners actually get to the point where the business begins repaying the debt that has accumulated over so many years of work.

In order for an entrepreneur to achieve the American Dream, he must follow the basic tenants of business. The basic tenants of business do not vary from one business to another. The number one tenant is that you must produce profitable sales.

A profitable sale implies that each and every sale must help the business owner consume overhead. To achieve that, it is necessary that the owner actually understand the doctrine of true cost. All costs must be attributable to the determination of pricing in order to make absolutely sure that it helps to consume overhead on each and every revenue-producing event.

To be successful, business owners must make absolutely sure that they have a controlled environment rather than an uncontrolled environment, as it relates to the doctrine of true cost. They must know what each individual cost component is that makes up the cost of the product or service, and then devise a method and a system to control the costs.

For the small business owner to achieve the American Dream, and be capable of controlling destiny, define what the business is capable of producing as a minimum mandatory profitability. Manage the critical variables of the company on a daily, weekly and monthly basis in order to reach the point where the minimum mandatory profitability number becomes real. The moment a business owner comes to the realization that there is a variance in any of the critical variables, he must immediately attack his critical variables and say to himself, it is the obligation of my company to produce this minimum mandatory profitability.

The benefit of this allows all entrepreneurs to be in a position where we are capable of controlling our own destiny. Then, and only then, will we have achieved the American Dream.