What is a real business ?!

F

furfing

New member
Sep 12, 2008
606
3
0
N/A
Hello all,

I was having a discussion with a friend.

My friend own a multi million dollar company and I asked him what he consider to be a real business.

He told me that you are really in business when you become responsible of the the future of people, feeding your employees in a way...

What do you think about this ?

Cheers
 


Responsibility sums it right about up.

Not just your employee's but yours and your family's as well.
 
I'd have to agree with him but it's also a bit biased towards businesses that require employees. IM is a good example of a business where you can be completely independent and run a big legit business.
 
Deliguy said:
I'd have to agree with him but it's also a bit biased towards businesses that require employees. IM is a good example of a business where you can be completely independent and run a big legit business.
Click to expand...

Pretty much agree with this. Although I would extend it to: offering a product or service to a group of customers (or better still, multiple products or services to that group of customers).
 
I own a business that has no employees just me... but I design my products and subcontract the manufacturing to other businesses that have employees so I contribute to the economy.

A real business I think is when you provide "valued added" goods or services to the world. There are plenty of ways to make money that only suck it out of the market and add no value...like making a robot to crawl and click your add sense adds (our telling all your friends to click) sure you make money but you are just gaming the system and breaking the law and taking money out that could have gone to a content writer or something.
 
I agree with djcooke. A real business is a business that provides value. A real business is a business that actually fills a need for people and raises their standard of living. I don't think it has anything to do with employees or responsibility, but rather relevancy and value. I think a real business also has some longevity to it as value is usually more of a long term thing than short term. A real business is the result of innovation, optimization and necessity. A real business is the result of putting the various pieces together in the most efficient manner possible.
 
Is your entity registered with the state? Yes? It doesn't really matter what anyone thinks philosophically, because at the end of the day you can call anything a business if you have the money to pay the state.
 
For me personally, I start considering it a "real" business when you start building a real brand. To me, 99% of us here don't own real businesses from the external world's perspective.

This includes myself, so I'm on no high horse here and am not trying to be insulting. 2012 is gonna fix that for me, as I start doing branding.
 
furfing said:
He told me that you are really in business when you become responsible of the the future of people, feeding your employees in a way...
Click to expand...

Hello friend,

I no think giving people job is main reason for business. People create business in order to generate profit. No create business in order to generate jobs.

Reason for hire employee is so they help you make more money. No hire employees so people can have job for feed family.

I think once have product or service and start make sales already have a real business.

Good luck bro
 
A good point was brought up, contributing to the economy.

When I first started out it was just me, now I have 7 full time employees, but most of the graphic/design work I subcontract out overseas because I just cannot pay what US designers want. I have this constant feeling of obligation to my country to pay an in house designer or sub it out to a US designer but they are all mostly expensive and entitled.

I think this question is kind of silly to begin with but since it is being discussed I will consider it. Even when it was just me, your damn right I considered it a real business. I did not perform good enough, ultimately I would not pay my bills. I don't talk about what I do to most of my friends because they do not understand and usually just say 'web development.'

I also agree with the above of building a brand. In the beginning when I started it out was cute getting a logo and having matching colors etc. but it is much more than that. Building a brand for me is caring about my reputation. A person that works for me is very gung-ho and wanted to "wrap" their car in our brand, and I had to say no due to the fact that I know they are an erratic driver, and tend to frequent establishments that I do not want associated with my brand. I think even 1 year ago I would have given the go ahead to that person and not have considered the situation.

Point being when I really feel like I have a business because I really care about its reputation and how it is perceived locally and on the net.

I am very proud of my business, I live in a section of South Florida where there are a ton of illegitimate businesses such as time share recovery, "ligtht bulb scams (dont ask", metals/commodities rooms, "publication journals", etc so I am very sensitive when it comes to reputation etc.

Kudos to everyone out there that has fulfilled their dreams!
 
There's no such thing as a "real" business, you either make money or you don't.
 
OP you are asking what a "real business" is in a forum where something like 90% think college is a bad idea.
 
kingfish said:
OP you are asking what a "real business" is in a forum where something like 90% think college is a bad idea.
Click to expand...

In most cases, college IS a bad idea (strictly from a financial point of view). You'll see this playing out more and more over the next 10 to 15 years, where companies start treating relevant experience with more respect.

If you're making money, you can call anything a business. Little kid down the street selling lemonade? Business.
 
furfing said:
Hello all,

I was having a discussion with a friend.

My friend own a multi million dollar company and I asked him what he consider to be a real business.

He told me that you are really in business when you become responsible of the the future of people, feeding your employees in a way...

What do you think about this ?

Cheers
Click to expand...

Your friend is right, I remember when I got my first employees something changed in how I thought. Now it wasn't enough to want to profit, I literally had to make sure we made money or their families didn't eat.

Going to bed thinking about that is more harrowing than going to bed just trying to figure out how to make money.


shawnhag said:
I am very proud of my business, I live in a section of South Florida where there are a ton of illegitimate businesses such as time share recovery, "ligtht bulb scams (dont ask", metals/commodities rooms, "publication journals", etc so I am very sensitive when it comes to reputation etc.

Kudos to everyone out there that has fulfilled their dreams!
Click to expand...
Deerfield Beach to North Palm Beach FTW. LMAO
 
tencentpiece said:
In most cases, college IS a bad idea (strictly from a financial point of view). You'll see this playing out more and more over the next 10 to 15 years, where companies start treating relevant experience with more respect.

If you're making money, you can call anything a business. Little kid down the street selling lemonade? Business.
Click to expand...

THIS. Now if my family would understand :rolleyes:
 
danke said:
Your friend is right, I remember when I got my first employees something changed in how I thought. Now it wasn't enough to want to profit, I literally had to make sure we made money or their families didn't eat.

Going to bed thinking about that is more harrowing than going to bed just trying to figure out how to make money.



Deerfield Beach to North Palm Beach FTW. LMAO
Click to expand...



its disgusting. my office is in that area next to me is a timeshare office. 4 days ago this guy with tattoos all over his neck comes running into the building breaks all their computers and beats the shit out of two kids with a billy club.
 
shawnhag said:
its disgusting. my office is in that area next to me is a timeshare office. 4 days ago this guy with tattoos all over his neck comes running into the building breaks all their computers and beats the shit out of two kids with a billy club.
Click to expand...

That generally happens with you fuck over the wrong person.
 
A real business, only cares to feed it owner(s) or share holders. Employees and the like are properties or assets owned or on rent. They drop off when not needed, or more of liability than helping the cash flow. The "we are a big happy family" or "we are looking after you an your family" is the biggest BS you will hear in the corporate world.

A strike for a quick cash is a deal. A steady long term plan for an income, high or low, is a business. And you will always be responsible for someone, starting from yourself!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom