You Still Have to Eat While You're Dreaming

In my last post, I wrote about one of the lessons I learned many years ago at Goldman Sachs: be long-term greedy, not short-term greedy.

But there's another side to that philosophy that I think is especially important for small business owners.

You still have to eat while you're dreaming about the future.

I've seen entrepreneurs become so enamored with where they want the company to be three or five years from now that they stop paying enough attention to what needs to happen this month. They're investing in new products, new markets, technology, people, and infrastructure, all of which may be exactly the right decisions for the long term.

The problem is that payroll is still due on Friday.

I've always believed good leaders need to take a barbell approach to running a business. On one side, you have the investments that build the company you're trying to become. On the other, you have the activities that generate revenue, protect margins, and produce the cash needed to fund that future.

You need both.

That means investing in your brand while still asking where the next sale is coming from. Building a new product while continuing to improve the one customers are paying you for today. Developing your team while making sure utilization and productivity remain strong. Pursuing a new market while continuing to take care of the customers who got you here.

I learned this firsthand while building my own business. I loved thinking about the long term: where we could take the company, what we could build, the people we could hire, and the investments that could separate us from competitors. But none of those things mattered if we weren't filling the pipeline, closing business, delivering great work, and collecting receivables.

Cash flow gives you the privilege of thinking long term.

And that's an important distinction because neither extreme works particularly well.

Run the business entirely for today's profit and you'll eventually underinvest in the things that create tomorrow's growth. Spend all your time and money building for tomorrow and you may not survive long enough to get there.

Great leaders learn to live in both worlds. They protect today's business while investing in tomorrow's. They know which investments require patience, but they're equally clear about the numbers that have to work right now.

Dream big. Invest for the long term. Build something you're proud of.

But make sure everyone gets to eat along the way.