Shortly before I started writing this blog—really, one of the things that motivated me to start writing it—I saw a TV show about an organization called Farm Rescue. It’s a non-profit started in 2006 that helps farming families who have experienced a major injury, illness or natural disaster by planting, harvesting and haying their crops.
As I watched the show, I realized that Bill Gross, Farm Rescue’s founder, really gets the value of serving other people. I could also tell that his service affects him deeply and personally.
I was inspired by Bill’s decision simply to start doing something about other peoples’ needs. In everything worthwhile that we do, there comes a point where we have to fully commit to making it work.
I’ve talked before about something that Ben Arment said: “A great idea is a spreadsheet with skin on. No dream can be sustained without a profitable financial model. And make no mistake – whether you’re profit or non-profit – the goal is to make a profit. Otherwise, it’s not a dream; it’s a hobby.”
Ben makes a really important point very clearly: if you’re in business, you have to have a viable financial model.
But he’s also wildly wrong. Viable financial model or not, the goal doesn’t have to be to make a profit. And a failure to make a profit doesn’t make your work into a hobby. We can choose other goals. But if we do choose another goal, we have to be fully committed.
T.S. Eliot once asked, “What do we live for; if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”
Its clear that Bill Gross is fully committed to seeing Farm Rescue succeed. And I think that he’s figured out that making life “less difficult to each other” is enough to keep a business growing.
