While the question "what is profit?" seems to be innocuous enough there is a much deeper meaning to the word profit than simply how much money is made on the sale of goods or services. From the general standpoint we consider profit to be the proceeds made after we subtract the cost of doing business. There are references to gross profit and to net profit within the business world of which net profit in it's most rudimentary form is the actual amount of money that is left over at the end of the business year for distribution or for reinvestment in the company. Successful business owners understand the need for a high net profit to continue growing their business and having the necessary capital to do so.

So the word profit is bantered around continually in the business sector as a financial goal that everyone has. But when we talk about a deeper meaning for the word profit we actually have to go to the etymology of the original word now used as profit from about 1303 where it was converted to a verb from a noun in the Latin profectus meaning to progress. There is also a synonym used with the word profit often and that is to "improve" coming from the Latin word prode which literally translates advantageous, meaning to raise to a better quality or condition. So if we look at profit from the standpoint of these original meanings we understand that profit implies more than a monetary gain. As business people we look at a company and try to determine its progress by the profitability has expressed in dollars.

Perhaps it's time we evaluate further indications of profit and whether or not the company has raised a better quality or condition for both the owners and the employees. This statement does not mean that we cannot pay attention to the financial ramifications or importance of the word profit as it replies to a monetary increase in our business. We do however have to look at our companies in the light of whether or not the organization is draining us emotionally, physically, as well as financially thereby offsetting any financial profit.

Some business owners are content to make a smaller net profit than other companies desire but they enjoyed the better quality or condition of life associated with successfully running their company in a way that doesn't cause undue stress or strain on their personal lives. Perhaps these business owners have found the real key to the word profit and have in fact raised their life to a better quality or condition by understanding that money is not always everything in the business world