The Business Decision Matrix

I have multiple streams of income.

It’s been said that the typical millionaire has in place an average of seven different income streams. I’m getting close.

Though I do have significant personal income goals over the next ten years, this is not the sole driver of my business decisions. In fact, it isn’t even a primary consideration when I’m contemplating a new opportunity.

Those opportunities come from two sources. First, the very active “idea machine” constantly running in my own mind. But secondly, from others who approach me with partnership proposals. The latter is happening on a more and more frequent basis.

Every opportunity requires an investment of finite time and resources, and I have to choose wisely which ones are worthy of pursuit. To do so, I run every idea/opportunity through my own Business Decision Matrix which consists of multiple components. I’ll share them with you here in my order of importance.

1. Will this idea or opportunity do harm to anyone?

This is a show stopper for me. I read this past week about an individual in one industry I’m involved with finally being arrested for fraud after scamming multiple people out of enormous sums of money for a very long time. In the past month or so I learned of another individual I know, with a horrible reputation, who has a track record of destroying businesses, being handed the keys to yet another very large business in our industry.

I know evil people exist, but their presence, and the stories of the destruction they cause, always leave me with a feeling of disbelief that humans can behave this way, deliberately destroying other people, and that they are allowed to do so.

If an idea or opportunity will knowingly cause harm to anyone, I’m out.

2. Does this idea or opportunity deliver value to meet a need and/or solve a problem?

A lot of people, including myself, have pet projects that bring joy and fulfillment to themselves. And this is often a great starting point for a new business idea. However, if the project serves only the creator and doesn’t address a desire, problem, or need held by a significant percentage of the population, it probably isn’t going to scale, or make it to the next step in my decision matrix.

3. Does this idea or opportunity serve a greater good, beyond myself?

This is closely related to the first component, but with a stronger altruistic emphasis. Recent developments in one of the industries I’m involved with has pulled the curtain back on the deep seated self-interest and self-preservation that drives many people, preventing them from understanding and appreciating the greater good.

In his book The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek discusses the difference between the finite game, and the infinite game as related to business. Football is a finite game. There is a clock, an end of the game, and the goal is to have the most points when the clock runs out and everyone goes home. Business is an infinite game wherein the objective is to keep playing, for as long as you can. Doing so requires a different mindset. “To ask, ‘What’s best for me’ is finite thinking. To ask, ‘What’s best for us’ is infinite thinking.”

He goes on to explain, “To succeed in the infinite game of business, we have to stop thinking about who wins or who’s the best and start thinking about how to build organizations that are strong enough, and healthy enough to stay in the game for many generations.”

He then describes two types of players in the game of business. “One group seems obsessed with beating their competition. The other group seems obsessed with advancing a cause.”

As someone who believes that my life, every life, has meaning and purpose that extends far beyond ourselves, and that every decision we make and every purpose we give ourselves to has the power to hurt, or help, potentially generations, I find far more satisfaction in pursuing ideas and choosing opportunities that can be felt far beyond my own personal desires and goals.

4. How many wins can I create with this idea or opportunity?

Not far afield from the last two points, this component narrows “the greater good” down a bit and causes me to think about specific people, or groups of people, who will experience a win in their own lives and/or businesses if I decide to pursue an idea or opportunity.

For me personally, with every idea or opportunity, I’m looking for a trifecta. If I can see no other winner except myself, I’m not likely to proceed, not anymore. It just doesn’t excite me because it is finite and my passion for it will be short-lived. Finding another person or group of people who will benefit moves me closer to action. But if I can see a trifecta of winners, three groups of people or more, then I’m pretty excited to get started.

My first business, in 2018, was for the most part entirely focused on my own benefit. I provided a service that met a need, and I did well financially, but nobody else benefitted from my work. However, every business I’ve created since then, particularly the past couple of years, has a trifecta of winners, and as a result, my work doesn’t feel like work and I don’t even notice most of the time that I’m working a combined 60 or 70 hours a week, often from breakfast to bedtime, more than I ever did in the corporate world.

5. Does this idea or opportunity get me closer to my financial and lifestyle goals?

Finally, if the project or partnership does in fact present a return on investment that moves me closer to where I want to be financially, and in quality of life, and it has checked off the boxes above, I’m all in, with all of the passion and creativity I can bring to the table.

We all have a different matrix.

What’s important to me, may not be important to others. I hope it’s important to you to do no harm and avoid ideas and opportunities that exploit, damage, and destroy, but beyond that, we are all driven by different motivations.

I’m not encouraging you to emulate my matrix. But what I am encouraging you to do, is develop your own before investing your finite time, energy, and resources into the infinite game of business.