Two Main Objectives of Every Business

A business is two things at its core. One is its key characteristics, which we explored in Five parts of a Business. The other is its main objectives. I argue there are two main objectives to every business.

The first main objective of a successful business is to complete the business’ mission. This mission is unique to each business and will be very carefully considered and crafted. However, it its heart, all business’ missions are to relieve the client’s pain, to help the client and community and to generally make the world a better place in the eyes of the business owner.

Objectives of Business

The unique nature of an individual business’ mission and the way in which the business goes about completing its mission is nested at the heart of the business. Everything the business does and says will be crafted in order to further the business on its mission. Everything is about the mission.

Take a look at a few examples of a business mission…

Everything ChildLine does and says will be to benefit the mission of giving children and young people a voice when nobody else was listening. The way in which they give children and young people a voice when nobody else is listening (their mission) is through making a helpline accessible to children.

Google want to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. The way in which they do this is through the search engine, Google (and all their business endeavours). Everything Google creates is aligned with their mission.

A business owner must think long and hard about what their business’ mission should and can be. They will carefully consider everything they do so that it is aligned with their mission.

Completing the business mission is the first objective.

The second objective is profit.

The business must have money in order to survive. Without money the business will fail and the business mission will fail.

Money is central to the business operating and everything the business does must also be with the aim of furthering the business sustainability, that is, its profitability.

Having a profitable and sustainable business is the second objective.

Written by Lily Llewellyn, family business coach

March 24th 2025