Experiences from an Entrepreneur

Does my business add value?

In order to answer that question I first need to define value so I better understand what it is that I am trying to increase or add…otherwise it’s a shot in the dark. Simply stated, and with a little help from Wikipedia, value is how much a product or service is worth to someone relative to other things.

This is a pretty general definition and is open enough for multiple interpretations. What does the phrase “…relative to other things”, mean? Are we comparing my service to air? If that’s the case, I’m not very valuable. Are we comparing it to water? Again, I add no value. What if we compare my service to my competitors, or someone servicing the same customer base? I don’t know! Value can be measured differently depending on how you complete your interpretation of the definition.

My revised definition of value in a business context is this. Value is how much a product or service is worth to someone relative to their previous state when they didn’t have that product or service.

Do our products and services improve lives or deteriorate them? Untimely the answer to this question will tell us if our business adds value.

Now, with all this said, here is the fact about answering this much-sought-after question “Does my business add value?” As a business owner, you can try to convince yourself that the answer you came up with is right, but the truth is, your customers are the only ones that can answer this for you.

So if you want to know if your business adds value, ask someone who knows.