There’s a dad joke that goes like this:
Maths Teacher: If you have $20 and your dad gives you $20, how may dollars do you have?
Student: $20.
Maths Teacher: You don’t know Maths.
Student: You don’t know my dad.It gets a laugh or maybe not. But that is business. Everyone thinks they know the answer until the business proves otherwise.
When The Numbers Don’t Add Up…
On paper, business looks simple. Revenue minus expenses equals profit.
But anyone who has actually run one knows better.
- Your revenue figure looks healthy until you realise half of it is still in unpaid invoices.
- Your team looks bigger until you notice output hasn’t improved.
- Your profit looks strong until the tax bill and loan repayments arrive.
On the surface, everything looks fine. The reports say growth. The team says busy. You tell yourself it must be working.
Then reality arrives and suddenly growth still needs an overdraft.
Business Isn’t Pure Arithmetic…
- 20 sales do not always mean 20 happy customers.
- 20 staff do not always mean 20 productive people.
- 20 hours of work rarely mean 20 hours of value.
In the classroom, the answer was always 40. In business, the answer is whatever reality decides to take from you.
That is not bad arithmetic. That is the fine print of business and it is often written by customers, suppliers, banks and the ATO.
Category: NEXT ZERO