When you grow, you will be tested with situations that will make you choose between what's good for now and what's good for you. Most people do not see the difference at all, and many of the ones who see, they don't choose wisely.
When you are in a 'head above water' kind of situation, you do not have a lot of option here, you always choose what's good for now.
When that's not the case, and you still prefer to choose what's good for now over what's good for you, some might say that you are either greedy to think that you need to have it all and have it now. Or you are dumb enough to miss the big picture.
But I'd say both of them are right and both of them are wrong. The rights and wrongs will trade places based on a simple question.
Why are you in it?
Imagine you are running a startup and you are working with multiple clients and making a good progress and getting ready for a long haul.
Now, a huge client comes in, demands 100% of your team's efforts, offers to 5x your revenue and puts a checkpoint that you need to stop working with the rest of your clients. What is going to be your decision.
If you choose to do what this new client asks, you are going to lose all the other clients that trusted you with your services. If you choose to decline the client's proposal, 5x revenue is not going to happen soon, it could take a few years to get there.
What will be your decision now?
If your aim is to make some quick buck, then you will honour the client's deal and move on, no matter the consequences in future.
If you are in it for the long haul, you will obviously say 'No' to the new client's proposal. Because, honouring the proposal raises a big red flag. What if this new client backs out of the deal after a year or so. You had already turned your back on the clients who trusted you, obviously you can't go back to them. So, you will have to start afresh from the scratch.
In any business, if more than 10% of your revenue comes from one particular client, then you are in a danger zone. Besides, when you are planning for a long haul, confining yourself within a single client is never good for branding and you will never be able to build a product or a company you dreamt-of.
Ask yourself this question the next time when you are at the crossroads of making a crucial decision, irrespective of whether you run a company or work for a company or starting your career.
Why are you in it ?
Are you in it for the quick run or for the long haul?
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