When I am working with entrepreneurs and businesses one of the most common things I hear is “I have this business but what I really want to do is XYZ.”

Almost everyone has some secret desire to be doing something other than the thing that makes them money.

Here’s what I usually say. If the objective is to make more money, what would the probability be of a new business making more money than your existing business?

The answer is usually that it won’t. Most of the risk, time, energy, and money is used when you start something new.

Also, I have never seen a business that has maximized 100% every opportunity it has to make more money.

In fact, the biggest value I can normally add when I work with a business is to clarify the owner’s focus and help them strategize ways to make more money from their existing business.

It’s not a magic bullet, and it’s sometimes not what people want to hear, but the reality is in almost every situation the fastest, best and most profitable thing to do is work harder at maximizing what you have.