What gets you out of bed every morning? Why are you in business? Specifically, what is the purpose of your business? Is it simply to make money?
That straightforward notion—simply making money—was actually a provocative idea in 1970 when libertarian economist Milton Friedman offered it in an essay for the New York Times titled “A Friedman Doctrine: The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits.” Friedman’s idea, however crusty at the time, has found a lot of traction in the national imagination, eventually coming to shape attitudes toward business among the general public. Friedman’s influence is still hefty today, as shown by contemporary “man on the street” interviews: Most respondents appear to agree that the purpose of any business is to maximize profits, period.
Even so, other, different, fruitful ways to think about business purpose do circulate in the cultural bloodstream. In 1954 Peter Drucker stated in his classic primer The Practice of Management that “the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” You can find evidence of Drucker’s continued influence by asking owner/operators of retail shops what they regard as the most important factor in growing their businesses. Again and again comes the response: “Customer service. Keep your customers happy.” Cherish your customers and make certain they know that you cherish them. After all, without customers you will never have any chance to live out the Friedman ambition of maximizing profits. Friedman may have set out a defensible business goal, but Drucker showed us a way to get there. The fact is, these two seemingly disparate viewpoints operate hand in hand.
All of this is to suggest that the prime motive of business people is, or should be, the happiness and satisfaction of the business’s customers, as if they were a garden from which all blessings flow, and by which we thrive. Combining the two approaches in one statement, we could say, The purpose of my business is to maximize investment return by growing a base of happy, loyal customers. Or some such. Each business must define its own guiding spirit, but we could all do worse than focusing on customers as our purpose. Their contentment is our motivation. Jay Dadlani, cigar specialist at Tinder Box of SouthPark Mall in Charlotte, says, “A good salesperson sells features of a product. A great salesperson sells outcomes. But the best salespeople sell happiness and satisfaction. Your baseline is always the customer, so making that customer happy is paramount.”
Focus—more than a buzz word
“A secret weapon that most people don’t take advantage of is focus.” —Scott Galloway, entrepreneur, host of The Prof G Pod
While stating your business’s purpose is one thing, it is another to train yourself and your staff to cleave to that vision through thick and thin, with minimal diversion. That can be a hard discipline to keep. We do, after all, deal with human beings, and every human is susceptible to distraction.
One definition of focus is “goal-directed behavior.” Only after you have articulated your goal can you set a true course to achieving it. This will involve focus, which in turn involves filtering out non-essentials. We do allow that focus can coexist with the “wear many hats” view of the world. There are advantages to employing Renaissance people, if they can keep their heads out of the clouds long enough to sell a pricey box of cigars. Wise and observant tobacconists are every bit as skilled in armchair psychology as the most seasoned bartender. They can read a room and focus the energy toward sales, guided always by the business’s purpose—as defined by you.
Your Employees
Your staff members are your family. This even applies to the ones you don’t particularly like. They are family because they nourish your garden—your customer base—which means they are connected directly to your well-being. Make sure your employees know they are family. Remind them of it in ways both subtle and obvious, ways that lead them to internalize familial feelings.
David Garofalo, owner of Two Guys Cigars in New Hampshire, says, “There’s lifetime value in an employee, same as a customer. It takes a long time to train an employee, so try to hang on to good people. We all have to eat. Make it so that their position in your business can be a career and not just a job. Teach them we’re all in this business together.”
Avoiding Distractions
Keep politics out of your shop. It is a distinct feature of our times that no matter which side of an issue you come down on, wearing politics on your sleeve is always going to alienate half of the buying public. This translates directly to reduced sales. If you’ve got a TV in your lounge, keep it tuned to sports and weather. It’s just good manners in a place of business to keep your own counsel should volatile issues come up. This need for discretion goes double for manufacturer reps visiting tobacco shops. Of course, discussing political matters (e.g., taxes or regulations) with a connected individual in your back office is sometimes necessary. But on the shop floor, keeping everyone’s political views a deep mystery, as a matter of policy, is invariably good business.
Silence your cellphone’s news alerts during working hours. Of course, as a responsible citizen and operator of a business with a public face, you need to know what’s going on in the world. But with few exceptions, you don’t need to know right this minute. Save the news consumption for after hours, at home. This is, after all, what every normal person did until about 10 minutes ago.
A retail space should be a happy space at all times. Keeping your shop sanitized of contentious views will reliably move the profit needle in your favor. Customers of all views need a safe space where they can check out from the cares of the world and just relax for a while. Let your shop be such a space.
The Bottom Line
Your business is an organic thing, made of complex human relationships and emotions and hopes and dreams, all of them in tension with one another, constantly shifting. As a shopkeeper, you have the difficult role of therapist and cultural enforcer. Define a set of guiding values for you and your staff to memorize and follow religiously. Inculcate those values; make sure your staff understands why you insist on their observance. Doing this can see you through some difficult times.
Keep your head down and mind your business. Nobody else is going to do that for you, even if they agree with every edgy thought that pops into your head. Once you have defined your business’s purpose and you’ve crafted a feasible mission statement, follow those precepts like a lodestar. They can keep you on the path to Milton Friedman’s edict of maximized profits—the end zone for which we all strive—a business motivation that is universal.
– Article by William C. Nelson.
This story first appeared in PCA The Magazine, Volume 1, 2026. To receive a copy of this magazine, you must be a current PCA member. Join or renew today