I think what a lot of people who say that mean by it is that to be successful, your primary focus doesn't have to be about making money.
I agree - if all you care about is money, you won't become successful. You'll probably become rich, though.
For many successful, people becoming wealthy is a (usually intentional) side effect of building a good business.
But a good business is one that makes money (apart from the instagrams and other lottery tickets of this world). So focusing on making money is necessary to them too. If you do a great job for your customers but you don't charge them, and so you run out of money and go bankrupt - well, you haven't built a great business at all.
Conversely, people who primarily focus on making as much money as possible are susceptible to making mistakes such as scrimping on necessary expenses, or sacrificing relationships with valuable business partners.
I think you're confusing short-sighted focus with "focus". Warren Buffet has primarily focused on making as much money as possible (his chosen career is literally to make money from investment) and he's not skimped on relationships or other necessities. On the contrary, I think if you're smart and you're focused on making money in both the short and long term, you probably will make money.
On the other hand, if you assume it will happen some day later, you probably won't make money.
While reading this, I was reminded of the following excerpt of Makers by Cory Doctorow (which, btw, is absolutely one of the best books to read if you're into tech startups):
> “What? I thought you’d be happy about this.”
> “I am,” Perry said. “But you’re misunderstanding something. These aren’t meant to be profitable businesses. I’m done with that. These are art, or community, or something. They’re museums. Lester calls them wunderkammers—cabinets of wonders. There’s no franchising op the way you’re talking about it. It’s ad hoc. It’s a protocol we all agree on, not a business arrangement.”
> Tjan grunted. “I don’t think I understand the difference between a agreed-upon protocol and a business arrangement.” He held up his hand to fend off Perry’s next remark. “But it doesn’t matter. You can let people have the franchise for free. You can claim that you’re not letting anyone have anything, that they’re letting themselves in for their franchise. It doesn’t matter to me.
> “But Perry, here’s something you’re going to have to understand: it’s going to be nearly impossible not to make a business out of this. Businesses are great structures for managing big projects. It’s like trying to develop the ability to walk without developing a skeleton. Once in a blue moon, you get an octopus, but for the most part, you get skeletons. Skeletons are good shit.”
> “Tjan, I want you to come on board to help me create an octopus,” Perry said.
> “I can try,” Tjan said, “but it won’t be easy. When you do cool stuff, you end up making money.”
> “Fine,” Perry said. “Make money. But keep it to a minimum, OK?”
On the business angle, does building a modestly profitable lifestyle business qualify? That's "about the money" in some sense, because you need to make enough money to keep the business open, with enough profits to support you. But it's about the money in a different sense than going for a multimillion-dollar exit is.
I agree - if all you care about is money, you won't become successful. You'll probably become rich, though.
For many successful, people becoming wealthy is a (usually intentional) side effect of building a good business.
But a good business is one that makes money (apart from the instagrams and other lottery tickets of this world). So focusing on making money is necessary to them too. If you do a great job for your customers but you don't charge them, and so you run out of money and go bankrupt - well, you haven't built a great business at all.
Conversely, people who primarily focus on making as much money as possible are susceptible to making mistakes such as scrimping on necessary expenses, or sacrificing relationships with valuable business partners.
I think you're confusing short-sighted focus with "focus". Warren Buffet has primarily focused on making as much money as possible (his chosen career is literally to make money from investment) and he's not skimped on relationships or other necessities. On the contrary, I think if you're smart and you're focused on making money in both the short and long term, you probably will make money.
On the other hand, if you assume it will happen some day later, you probably won't make money.