The Road To Hell Is Paved With The Pursuit of Volume

Are you guilty of busting your butt, putting in the long hours, and missing family time in the pursuit of volume? I know I have.

Richard Koch wrote in his must-read book The 80/20 Principle: “The road to hell is paved with the pursuit of volume. Volume leads to marginal products, marginal customers and greatly increased managerial complexity. Hard work leads to low returns. Insight and doing what we want lead to high returns. Strive for excellence in a few things; it is not the shortage of time that should worry us, but the tendency for the majority of time to be spent in low-quality ways. The 80/20 principle says that if we doubled our time on the top 20% of activities, we could work a two-day week and achieve 60% more than now.”

He might have been fantasizing when he wrote about a two-day workweek unless he was talking about the laggard we all have or heard about in sales, offices, retail or some unionized workers.

Working hard, being persistent and consistent, and knowing that your return on time and energy is valuable. Knowing your customer, your client, the value you add, and your profession or industry is valuable.

If you compete on price, someone will always beat you, if not today, someday. If you grow your business too fast or too large, your bottom line decreases just as quickly.

If you work 10-12-16 hour days, what price do you pay long term? Suppose your profession or field is a commodity, meaning tons of competition, unless you have a niche market, clientele, or product.

In that case, you will need volume, and the merry-go-round repeats itself. Busy being busy is busyness, not a business.

Working with unqualified customers is mind-sapping; non-paying customers, late-paying customers, poor-quality assistants, or suppliers sap your life energy!

I make it a point to read this book yearly; I have highlighted what I perceive to pertain to me; maybe that is why I read it every year!