On the face of it, this is such an easy question for medical professionals.

Or is it?

Because I can tell you this.

Most of you in an instant will tell me what your medical business does. Yes, I understand it is healthcare or whatever specialist area you cover. But rarely will a business owner tell me what business they are actually in. There is a difference.

When I asked this question to a spine specialist recently, I got laugh and he told me his business is exactly what it says on the door. But is it?

Because what you do as a medical professional and what you are is not the same. One gives you a false sense of security and can be ultimately doomed. The other ensures your survival. And ultimate success.

And I know what you are going to say. Every medical professional is a success. And in many cases, they are. But do not assume just because you give good medical care you are a success.

If you do not know what business you are in, you might as well pack up, go home and attend to some gardening.

Because believe it or not, Kodak (remember them?) and Blockbuster (if you remember them, you are old!) did not know what business they were in, and they were generating billions in income.

To a certain extent, BlackBerry was the same. But Apple wasn’t. Which is why Apple dominates, and kids these days have no idea what a BlackBerry is. Remember, at its peak, BlackBerry captured over 50% of the US market and 20% of the global market. And BlackBerry was a success for only seven years.

In 1963 (60 years ago), Kodak generated US$1bn in sales. By 1976, it held 85% of the world camera market and 90% of the film processing market. Forty years later, it went bankrupt.

What about Blockbuster? Well, in 1998, it was generating sales of US$3.9Bn. 12 years later it filed for bankruptcy.

Here is what you probably do not know: In 1975, Kodak developed the first digital camera, which they then sold to Cannon. In the year 2000, Blockbuster could have bought Netflix (they declined) for a mere US$50m (today, Netflix is worth $199Bn).

And the reason they failed was because they did not understand what business they were in.

Kodak thought they were in the ‘print business’ (which is why they sold the digital camera rights). They were not. They were in the ‘memories’ business. It did not matter if those memories were digital or in print.

Blockbuster thought they were in the DVD rental market. They were not. They were in the business of ‘home entertainment’. It did not matter if that was on DVD or streaming.

And now, most of you will tell me that being a medical professional and being Kodak is different. I guess it is but in truth it is not.

Here’s why. As a business, we are often given opportunities, and we often ponder and think if we should take advantage. It is a bit of a guessing game. And often, we work on gut reactions. During planning sessions with our clients, we really want to know what business they are in. This is because it determines which direction we go when opportunities arise.

And often when we know what business a client is in, and they call us to ask if they should take advantage of an opportunity they have in front of them, it is easy to ask ‘will this opportunity work considering the business we are in?’

But it’s not just opportunities. You see, BlackBerry had an idea of what business it was in. It’s just that Apple had a better idea of what business they were in, and the competition wiped out BlackBerry.

Here’s the thing.

The WOW! Advisors Group’s main bread and butter work is taxes and accounting. It is mainly what we do. But the WOW! Advisors Group is in the business of educating medical professionals so that they can live the dream of working less, earning more, and creating wealth.

And that means if anyone comes to us with opportunities we not only look to see if it assists us on the tax and accounting side, but we will be more aligned if it helps us in reducing client working hours, make them more income or generates more wealth.

And we always keep an eye on our competition and repeatedly ask our market what they want. If you want to test us, is there anyone you know who does not want to work less, earn more, and have more wealth?

So, the question I have for you is in two parts:

1.    What business are you in?
2.    What business are you really in?

If after asking the second question you are still unsure, ask yourself a 3rd question.

3.  If I do not know what business I am in, am I happy knowing I may become a Kodak or Blockbuster?

Because if you are not happy about it, it probably means you could do with a bit of help in working out what business you are really in. And we would be happy to assist you.

Running a lean, mean, fighting machine is step 3 of our 9 steps to working less, earning more and creating more wealth. If you want more information, email Hitesh at hitesh@medisuccess.com.au or call 1800 281 038.