Do You Have The Wrong Dream?

Do you have the wrong dream for your business? Gary North’s email today made me think about this topic.

Is your dream to operate a business where you have something people “have to have” (or at least think they have to have it), there’s no possible competition and you can charge whatever you want?

The fact that Exxon/Mobil is getting out of the retail gasoline business and selling its corporately owned stations due to the difficulties in that sector where prices keep zooming upwards shows the “dream” may be an illusion.

There was a famous insurance agent once named John Savage who had a saying: “Serve the masses, live with the classes. Serve the classes, go belly up.” In other words, if you can find a service that has mass appeal and is affordable to virtually everyone (and by implication has a low enough price),  then you’ll be making money long term.

That’s the key… low priced but profitable. That’s what keeps out competition.

That’s how Ford got started… by selling a car for the “average” man.

That’s how FedEx got started by making overnight parcel delivery affordable and predictable.

Do we have the wrong dream?