When we focus on the top line, any sale is a good sale. Any paying client is a good client. Anything that makes money is everything we want.

Top line addiction results in a single need: sell, sell, sell. Sell everything and sell anything. That’s a problem, since all sales are not the same.

The ten thousand bucks you made from one client delivering on your core competency is way different than the ten thousand dollar sale to the impossible to satisfy client who needs you to reinvent the wheel.

I know you know this. But I think you are still addicted. I think you still take the sale regardless. I know this because you judge your company’s health by the sales you made this month, this week or even today. I know you are addicted to the top line, because you tell others the size of your business as a top line number. All revenue is not created equal.

To break free of the top line addiction, you must focus on the bottom line. How much are you taking home at the end of the day? How many dollars are you netting for the hours you work? How much has profit grown?

The addiction is at the top line, and the health is at the bottom.