Is it the money that builds a business or is it the skills?

When I was working on my master’s, I worked at a high end clothing store (I won’t say where) owned by two extremely wealthy men at a prime location in New York City. The clothes were very expensive, and the store’s rent alone was more than most store owners would be happy to earn in a month.

However, despite having virtually unlimited funds, celebrities being photographed in our store, and lots of business connections with people in high places, calling it a flop would be generous.

The clothes were poor quality, the dye faded quickly, buttons would fall off in the fitting room. We were lucky if we made more than 5 sales in a day. I think our sales were enough to cover the rent once in the 9 or so months I worked there. The owners figured that since they had clout people would pay whatever price for their clothes.

WRONG.

People aren’t dumb, and they weren’t willing to cough up a bunch of money for junk just because some rich guy said they should.

Sometimes people with a lot of money make horrible business decisions because they don’t have to think about the consequences of losing money. On the other hand, some of the most successful businesses are the way they are because they were squeezed and didn’t have any room for error.

Money can definitely alleviate some friction, but if you aren’t honing on your skills to create a great product, lead your team, and understand your customers no amount of money can fool them long enough for you to be successful.