I’ve noticed that, in letters, e-mails and conversation, more and more people are using the phrase “flourish and prosper” recently and I wondered just how many have actually analyzed what that actually means in terms of business money management, and just how it can be accomplished.
Socrates said, “The beginning of wisdom is a definition of terms” so, by habit, I went to the oldest set of dictionaries that I own to get the purest definition of flourish, and here is what I found:
Flourish (verb intransitive) to do well and be prosperous; to be in a state of activity and production; to reach a height of development or influence; to increase in health, wealth, happiness, honor, comfort or whatever is desirable. [Webster Third International Dictionary © 1909]
So if we can flourish, then we have a much better chance of being truly prosperous. How can we carry out the actions of flourishing when it comes to business money management? Here are a few thoughts.
Be in a state of activity and production: Activity can’t just be busy work, a person or company must also be in production. To me that means to be producing something of value that actually contributes to the income generation of the company. For example, if a salesman spends all day calling people on the phone, but closes no sales, then he was certainly active, but wasn’t productive because he didn’t produce what he was hired to produce; closed sales. If a company spends its time, money and energy acquiring or making products, but never sells any, they are not really producing. To prosper, the production must generate income for the company.
Reach a height of development or influence: Development for a business person or a company could be defined as the process of changing and becoming larger, stronger, or more impressive, successful, or advanced. Influence is the power that somebody has to affect other people’s thinking or actions by means of argument, example, or force of personality.
An individual who owns a business can have great personal influence; like Steve Jobs or Donald Trump. The business itself can have influence: Microsoft and Apple making personal computers, iPhones and iPads a product that a large majority of households own and use to communicate, do research and get the news; Wal-Mart becoming the low-cost shopping destination for millions around the world. McDonald’s influencing millions of kids to beg their parents for a Happy-Meal just to get the toy.
These two, development and influence, work in tandem. The larger and stronger the sphere of influence a business has, the greater chance it has to prosper.
Increase in health, wealth, happiness, honor, comfort or whatever is desirable: It’s no doubt obvious that a sick, ailing company or individual can’t produce much and is probably financially insolvent or in danger of becoming insolvent, so increasing the financial health / wealth factor can involve cutting discretionary expenses, increasing sales, paying off debt, adding or discontinuing products or services to increase profitability and delivering high quality products and services that drive repeat sales and referrals.
Increasing the happiness of a company and the staff can entail overcoming obstacles that get in the way, and increasing the honor can entail delivering those high quality products and services that create a loyal customer base of raving fans who actively buy again and refer your company to others.
Comfort can be increased by all of the above and by stashing buckets of cash aside for emergencies, expansion and wealth-building plans along with paying off and avoiding debt.
Bottom line, one has to flourish in order to prosper. And I want your company to flourish and prosper.
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Did this article give you some new ideas on how to start flourishing and prospering? Leave a comment and let me know.