In the Business of Making Money

I’ve never really understood the philosophy of this statement:

“We’re in the business of making money.”

Sure, a business needs to make money. People need to get paid, businesses need to make a profit to grow, making money is the cornerstone of the economy. I get all that. I write because I enjoy it, but I also want to make some money doing it.

What I don’t do is write just to make money. I’ve never had a job just to make money. Well, you could call my time working in a restaurant in high school/college that, but there was also the goal of gaining some work experience. And I don’t think that even really applies to this statement either.

This statement speaks not the motivation behind employees getting jobs, but the reason the business exists in the first place. Why start a business just to make money? Why should that be the reason for a company to exist? One of the goals sure, but the primary reason for it to come into existence?

You could argue, that anyone who starts a business does it for this reason. Someone opens a business in order to feed themselves and their family. But that’s not the same thing. That means you’re in the business of survival. That’s why many people get jobs.

I think this philosophy of being in the business of making money, ruins anything about working for a particular company. Because then it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you only care about maximizing profits, not doing what the business is there for well.

You can see the difference when you compare McDonald’s to a local burger joint. Which place has the better burger? Sure, McDonald’s makes more money but their foods crap. I guess I don’t get why anyone would want to be the McDonald’s owner. Wouldn’t you rather make a great burger, and turn a profit doing it, than make a bit more money but make crap?