What is the perfect business? I suppose there is no general rule for a perfect business because each person has their own idea of what that business may be. Richard Russell wrote 12 rules to what he thinks make up the perfect business.
I discovered this letter last year and have kept it for reference and motivation. Here are just 3 of the 12 rules that I think are huge facets of the "perfect" business...
1. The ideal business sells the world, rather than a single neighborhood or even a single city or state. In other words, it has an unlimited global market (and today this is more important than ever, since world markets have now opened up to an extent unparalleled in my lifetime).
9. The ideal business is portable or easily moveable. This means that you can take your business (and yourself) anywhere you want -- Nevada, Florida, Texas, Washington, S. Dakota (none have state income taxes) or hey, maybe even Monte Carlo or Switzerland or the south of France.
12. Super-important: the ideal business is one in which your income is not limited by your personal output (lawyers and doctors have this problem). No, in the ideal business you can sell 10,000 customers as easily as you sell one (publishing is an example).
If there was ever a time to build a perfect business, especially related to those 3 rules I just pasted, now would be the time. I've spent the last few years devouring everything I can find related to marketing (on & offline), copywriting, sales funnels, etc.
Outside of building cool software I can't think of anything that I find as enjoyable as marketing & sales to earn a living. I am slowly working towards my goal of combining my two "loves" into my own perfect business.
What are some of your ideas for a perfect business? (Yes, we'd all love to be a playboy photographer but that's not a very scalable business model)
Oh yea, you can read the entire perfect business letter by clicking here...