Multiple Bottom Line Profit

Better a little with righteousness than great revenues without right —Proverbs 16:8

Do you measure your profitability only in financial terms?  What other things are important to your bottom line?  Do you have a way to measure them?

We all have heard the question, “What is the bottom line?”  Which means at the end of the day what are you trying to say or accomplish. Whether in simple conversation or in day to day activities, in business we all want to know what the bottom line is. It is a way to measure our success, to get to the main point, or to know if we are going in the right direction.  The bottom line is critical in business because it provides us with indicators that let us know that the market agrees with our assumptions; it also serves as evidence that we are being good stewards. A business without a positive financial bottom line will not exist for long unless it changes how it operates.  Bottom lines are critical to the survival of businesses especially kingdom businesses.  The Bible makes it very clear in Proverbs 14:23, “In all labor there is a profit …” and Jesus says in Matthew 25:30, “And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.

We cannot however measure our profitability only in financial terms.  We may do well in that one area but do very badly in other areas that may be just as important as and even more important than finances. After all, Jesus also states in Matthew 16:26, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”  I believe this is one of the most important statements in the Bible because you can be a heavenly-bound Biblical Entrepreneur and lose your soul.  The soul represents the essence of who you really are. It reflects your values and the things that are really important to you. Even your business has a soul.  The soul of your business is the combined set of values that shape your corporate culture.  What good is it if you have a positive financial bottom line but your customers do not feel that they are getting the value of what they pay for, your employees do not feel valued, your vendors feel cheated, or the community where you do business is getting worse because of how you operate your business or the type of business you operate?  What does it profit you to be highly profitable at the expense of everything else that is important; you are making money but losing the soul of your business?  This is why when we think of the bottom line in business we must go beyond the numbers and consider other things that we value or other bottom lines.

Having multiple bottom lines means going beyond financial returns to include other measurements based on the values of the entrepreneur or the company.  It is the net gain after all costs are deducted from a business’ revenue while considering other things the company values such as people, cultural and spiritual things, and the environment.  Biblical Entrepreneurs must measure more than one bottom line since their businesses must serve as lights and salt in the marketplace.

• Having multiple bottom lines allows you to focus on a holistic approach to business, while having a single bottom line limits your focus to financial returns.
• A business with a multiple bottom line is intentional about having a positive community impact as a part of its core business model, while a company with a single bottom line may only positively impact the community as part of a public relations campaign to maintain the company’s image.
• A business with a multiple bottom line has a transformational impact on the community while one with a single bottom line may limit its impact to activities that will display good citizenship.
• A business with multiple bottom lines may yield a lower net financial return in the short run but provide great stability in the long run, while a company with a single bottom line may provide greater financial return in the short run but be more unstable in the long run.
• A company with multiple bottom lines provides more employee, customer, supplier and shareholder loyalty, while a company with a single bottom line tends to leave everyone focusing on what they can get for themselves.

As important as it is to identify the things you value as a company, beyond financial returns, the most important thing is to develop tools and metrics that will enable you to measure them.  Without those tools, you will not be able to measure the impact the things you value have on your bottom line.

My prayer for you today is that God will grant you the wisdom to determine the things that make up the soul of your business and develop ways to measure them so that you may glorify Him in the marketplace.