“The Most Profitable Investment for Entrepreneurs”
In my previous article, I talked about the 3 things to consider before investing in ‘assets’. If you haven’t read that article yet, please check out part 12 of this article series.
In this article, I want to focus once more on Entrepreneurs and talk about what the most profitable investment is for Entrepreneurs.
What is the most profitable investment for Entrepreneurs?
So let me give you the answer now. The most profitable investment of any entrepreneur is PEOPLE. Yes, you read that correctly, it is not product, it is not brand, it is not real estate, or stocks, or any other investment class you might think of. It is just one thing: PEOPLE.
Lets break it down:
Now in the world of ‘business making’, PEOPLE do not just refer to your employees. When I say PEOPLE, I mean 2 very big groups: 1) CUSTOMERS and 2) EVERYONE ELSE WHO WORK WITH AND FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Needless to say, and at the risk of ‘mastering the obvious’, CUSTOMERS are profitable investments.
Why should you regard customers as investments?
Well, most businesses regard customers as simply ‘people who buy stuff from you’, but successful businesses think of customers as ‘Investments’. Let me explain this further to add context to what I’m saying — every successful business big or small who ‘invest’ in customers are the businesses that make an effort to convert customers into ‘clients’. And clients are repeat customers or ‘people who buy stuff from you over and over again’. In tagalog, pag bumili ang isang customer, ang negosyong marunong mag-invest sa customer ay ginagawang ‘suki’ ang customer.
Now, as an Entrepreneur, if you can successfully do that, then you will realize, exactly how profitable investing in a customer really is. But more than just repeat sales, a more profitable result in investing in customers (if you do it right that is) is the positive word of mouth that your clients will give you and your business which in turn produces more customers for the business to invest in once more.
How do you invest in ‘Everyone Else’?
Well, first off, lets break down further who ‘Everyone Else’ is shall we. 1) Suppliers. 2) Partners, and of course, 3) Employees
Investing in your Suppliers
Never take your suppliers for granted nor should you treat them badly. Great and reliable suppliers are the result of ALWAYS paying them the right amount without unnecessary delays. Investing in your suppliers is about treating them professionally, treating them fairly and treating them with respect. In the end, if and when you are in a bind, and you have invested in the relationship with any and all of your suppliers chances are, they will be more than willing to help you by giving you an extra discount, extending terms of payments, or in whatever way they can.
Investing in your Partners
Partners whether investors, creditors, sales affiliates, and any other organization that leads to either more capital or more customers is of course another thing any Entrepreneur has to invest in. The real trick with investing in your partners is that you as the entrepreneur have to make money for them, and, always be the first to act in their best interest. If you are successful here, you will have partners that would be more than willing to produce profits for you as well.
Investing in your Employees
Now you may be thinking of the usual things that you hear most people talk about, hire very good people for your business. Give great benefits, a career path, and other perks. While that’s all good and fine, investing in your staff and employees are not just those. In fact, there is one thing that life has taught me about this topic, it is this, all of the above won’t matter if you do not first of all invest your own time to teach, guide, lead, manage (discipline) and most of all RECOGNIZE your employees properly.
Now if you are able to invest in your employees successfully, this leads to a happier work environment, a more efficient operation, and of course more customers and clients that ultimately produce more profits.
But that is not the only benefit proper investing in employees do. When your employees start taking charge and starts to truly care for your business (and even you), It gives you, the Entrepreneur a commodity more valuable than money, which is MORE TIME. More time to either work on expanding the business, or more time to spend with family and loved ones.
So, remember, if you are starting or are already in business, the most profitable investment you should ever make is to invest in your PEOPLE.
Author Box:
Mark So is a fervent businessman, Investor and educator. He is the Chairman and CEO of Businessmaker Academy—a business, finance and corporate training center. He is the founder and Chief Forex Trainer of Forex Club Asia, A Trading club of Forex Traders across Asia. He is also the Founder and Chief Trainer of the Philippine Franchise Institute which specializes in training and growing existing Franchise businesses. Mark, together with his loving wife also created wealthflowproject.com a website dedicated to teaching people how to make money run after you. A sought after speaker for business, investing, You may email your comments and questions to: markso@wealthflowproject.com or call the office at 6874445 / 6873416 / 6874645 for a schedule of his seminars
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nice article, its not easy to invest especially for your employee. some investment have been misinterpret. they get too close and tend to lax over your business. sometimes they make kumpare kumare of their boss.
Right you are Al, investing in people is one of the hardest investments to master. Regarding your concern of being too lax or crossing the boundaries, it really depends on your leadership style, Company policies and how you manage and motivate your people. This is the reason why we have been promoting to businesses to learn and understand Human Resources Management. For more info on that please go here: http://www.hrclubphilippines.com Best!
I found this article very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Always a pleasure anele 🙂
Hi mark . A very encouraging article. We believe in all what you said. The more benefited the employees, the more they work , the happier is the environment. With the suppliers, you are right, it must be a give and take relationship. So happy, to receive great articles to read. Thank you.
Thanks Lolly, always glad to hear from you, you and all of my readers encourage me to write and continue to share. So please continue to comment, I appreciate you too.
Great article sir Mark! You’re right about investing in our employees but this is also the hardest part to keep and maintain.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Every article is a revelation and an eye-opener for me! Hoping to put this in action soon! God bless you more!
thanks sir mark for all these valuable tips in investing on relationships with the people who work with youit really is the most important but the most difficult task to do.because you cant always please eveybody. more power !!!!
people are indeed the best investment! because a person can never be happy when everyone else around him is miserable. Thanks for this learning!
Am happy, you give more value to PEOPLE ‘coz they are indeed the resources of one’s success. Personally i always feel proud of those managers who give everyone more value than anything. for sure, everything will soon follow, so to speak. Bless u more
thank you sir Mark sa article na ito iaapply ko ang natutunan ko sa small business namin,thanks more power!!
Awesome!Thanks Sir Mark for the article.it’s really true when you take good care of the welfare of your employee, they become empowered in the operation of business and therefore giving us more time to perform other task or enjoy other things with the family. It increases their productivity. I have observed that in my rental business. When I provide them with the necessary benefits, just compensation and treating them like family too, they care more about the business resulting to an increased performance and happy working environment. Indeed people is the most important investment in a business. TY and God bless!