For a start, all businesses share certain commonalities.一开始，所有的企业都有一些共同之处。 Among these are what I call the “four oarsmen” of business success: survival, liquidity, profit, and growth.这其中既有我所谓的"四个oarsmen "商业上的成功：生存，流动性，盈利和增长。

1. Survival speaks for itself. 1 。 存活率不言自明的。 Every living being is faced with issues of survival in routine threats to existence.每一个生活正面临着生存问题，在例行的威胁存在。 In business, such threats can be as simple as overextending obligations or failing to fulfill a contract.在业务上，这种威胁可以那样简单overextending义务或不履行合约。 Agency managers should never take survival for granted.机构经理万万不能的生存是理所当然的事。 Yet they often do.但他们往往做的。 Many agencies risk their survival by allowing one or two clients to represent a dangerously high percentage of their volume.许多机构风险，他们的生存，让一个或两个客户代表一种危险的高比例的体积。 If those clients are lost, the agency may lose its life.如果这些客户的损失，该机构可能会丧失生命。

2. Liquidity is the lifeblood of daily operations. 2 。 流动资金是生命线的日常运作。 It is the ability to meet payroll week in and week out, to pay the rent and the phone bills, reliably, with no duress or urgency.它是有能力，以满足发薪一周接着一周，付房租和电话帐单，可靠，没有任何胁迫或紧迫感。 It is the ability to handle payables in a timely fashion so that work may go on.它是有能力处理应付账款，在及时，使工作可以继续下去。 It is the ability to have adequate credit with banks, which expect regular payments on loans.它是能够有足够的信用，与银行，它们期望通过定期支付贷款利息。 The ability to spend and invest in those things that will improve the agency’s services to clients, competitive strength, and grasp of opportunity all depends on liquidity.有能力消费和投资，在这些事情，这将提高该机构的服务，以顾客，竞争力，和把握机会，一切取决于流动资金。 To be illiquid is to be disabled.可变现是被禁用。

3. Profit fertilizes business. 3 。 利润肥沃的业务。 Profit is to be shared with employees as reward for acomplishment and contribution.利润是要分享员工作为奖励成绩和贡献。 Profit is to be distributed to shareholder in return for investmen, risk, and patience.利润是分配给股东，以换取investmen ，风险和耐心。 Profit is to be reinvested in people, plant, proactivity.利润是再投资在人，植物，主动。 Profit is to be retained for additional cash resources.利润是必须保留的额外现金资源。 Profit is to reaffirm that the company利润是重申，该公司
s strategy is working and its operations are sound.战略的工作，以及其业务是健全的。

4. Growth allows for self-renewal: new opportunities, new challenges, new skills, new people, new clients to replace those that are lost. 4 。 生长允许自我更新：新机遇，新挑战，新技能，新的人民，新的客户，以取代那些正在丧失。 Growth means additional volume to offset spending declines by existing clients; larger scope of work, greater scope of workers; and a way to keep moving forward, to avoid staleness of being stationary.增长方式的额外数量，以弥补开支的跌幅，由现有客户;更大范围的工作，在更大范围内的人员，以及一个途径不断推向前进，以避免旷日持久的静止。 Growth reconfirms the good that clients already think of your company.增长再度确认好客户已经觉得你的公司。 Growth revitalizes company morale, making the conditions of employment even more promising.生长振兴公司的士气，使就业条件更是大有希望的。 Growth provides a means to enlarge the company portfolio.生长提供了一种手段，以扩大公司的投资组合。 Finally, growth enhances the probabilities of success.最后，增长提高了概率的成功。

Eric Mower李家祥割草机 [via] “The Advertising Business” [经] "广告业务"