What business are you in?

Mark Cuban (outspoken owner of the NBA's Mavericks, technologist, and blogger) persuasively argues that the NBA is not in the business of basketball, but of entertainment.

There are those around the NBA who think the business of the NBA is basketball. They seem to think that there are enough basketball junkies and purists out there, that if we “let the game of basketball alone”, we would fill arenas, the games would be more enjoyable and TV ratings would skyrocket. They probably also think that the tooth fairy is real.

Reality is that basketball is not the business of the NBA. Entertainment is the business of the NBA. Every single night of the week we battle movies, books, restaurants, TV and Cable programs, talking a walk, everything and anything that is an alternative to going to or watching an NBA game.

What is your business? Is it law? Trust? Peace of mind? Are your competitors other lawyers, accountants, business advisors? As a business lawyer, my competitors also include electricity, transportation costs, employee salaries, and rent. In other words, I am competing for my clients' business dollars against the other things they spend money on. Unless I can articulate the value that I can give them and persuasively show them how I can save them money, time, frustration, or worry, I am just another line item in their budgets that they will cut in hard times.