The Secret to Embarrassingly Large Profits

Let me share with you this quote:

A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.

~ Henry Ford (1863-1947) American industrialist

Henry Ford, c 1919
Photo: Wikipedia

This reminds me of the story of three people working in a construction site. A child passed by and asked them what they were doing. One said, "I am digging a hole." The second one said, "I am building a wall." The last one said, "I am building a Church."

Who among the three would you call when you want to build your house? If you're setting yourself up to be physically involved, call the first one. If you're setting yourself up to get mentally involved, call the second guy. But if you want to sit and relax while others sweat it out, you'd call the third.

Being called to serve IS the dream of every person in business. To be needed is at the core of everyone's prayer, every second of the day. Yet, as our story says, it is he who knows what, he who knows the mission, that frees a client of worry and prizes himself up in the scale.

It isn't easy to see the mission. We have to get out of ourselves and see the problem from the point of view of the client, and then we use the tools at our disposal to address the problem -- sometimes even if that means referring the client to someone else who can help that client better. One can do that effectively only when service is practiced as a virtue - something that we do with or without someone looking.

Yes, we see Manny Pacquiao win fights -- and millions of dollars -- on TV in just a few minutes. But we don't see him spend countless hours practicing, sweating, agonizing. He boxes on or off TV.

It's the same with virtue.

There are fellowships that perform acts of service as their purpose for being. Join any of them. It is a great venue for you to perform acts of service as a virtue, with or without recognition, but always with a smile. That is absolutely good for business!

When someone else's life becomes better because of the service we give, that is its own reward, and such reward is embarrassingly large in the overall scheme of things in life.