Taxis, Busses And Chauffeurs

Every business is one of these three things. Which is yours?

The bus says, “We’re all going over here.” It leads to a singular destination and you lead yourself to the decision of whether or not it’s best for you. That destination may or may not be what is best for you, you decide. If you think it is, you get to join the journey with the others. If not enough people want to go there, it goes there less often.

The taxi says, “Where would you like to go?” It doesn’t lead to any destination in particular, you do all the leading. You pay for someone to do the driving. It doesn’t matter to the taxi where you go; if it knows how to get there, it’ll get you there.

The chauffeur says, “This is where you specifically need to go next, and I’m going to take the best path to get you there.” It leads you forward based on your unique vision for your destination. It knows whether your decisions are wise or ill-advised, and finds the best path to get you to where you want to go.

All businesses do one of these things. None of the answers are wrong, but which you choose has profound implications on the way you will do business, the opportunities available to you, who you’ll attract as customers or clients, and what kind of experience and result you can produce for those people.