By JOHN R. BURCH / Guest Columnist

Decision-making is important for business owners, managers and even employees.

But decisions are not just about knowledge.

Good decisions require knowledge and a framework within which to make the decision.

For example, if you view your business primarily as a means of making money, profit is the deciding factor.

Or if service is the highest priority for your business, then service wins, sometimes at the loss of profits.

You may view your business as an extension of your favorite hobby, and pleasure becomes a priority.

You might endure as long as the pleasure outweighs the pain, sometimes avoiding difficult decisions that would benefit your business.

Any of these decision frames or perspectives is fine, but generally a healthy combination of each, and others, is needed to make wise decisions.

There is another perspective that should also guide our decisions.

It is easiest to sum up with the question, “Who owns your business?”

I don’t mean in the legal sense, but rather in a philosophical sense.

No single person engaged in a business pursuit can claim to have arrived independently at their present place.

We owe much gratitude to the people and experiences of the past.

Be it our parents, pastors or professors, our colleagues or competitors, everyone has been shaped by the successes and failures of those who bothered to invest themselves in our lives.

We must attribute a part of where we are today to them. And speaking of the present, isn’t it easy to allow ourselves to trip over the unexpected challenges and roadblocks?

How often do we stop to consider, as we should, that there is One who sees our business from a much higher plane?

I can personally say it is comforting to know that some barriers are designed for the best future of my business even when I could never have seen it on my own.

The future – that far away time that get’s here so fast.

As much as we love our work, it is a certainty of life that the torch shall one day pass to another. Every successful business must have a successor.

What about those future “owners” of your business? What legacy are you creating today for those that will come after you?

It may be shareholders, a trusted partner or a well trained protégé, but each of us, if

we are successful, will transfer what we have built.

The answer to my initial question: We are really only stewards of our business.

We steward what others gave us in the past, what God grants to us each day and what we will pass to someone in the future.

On behalf of the Helena Business Association Board of Directors, we wish you continued success!

John R. Burch is Steward of BCR Wealth Advisors, Inc. and the Helena Business Association Secretary and can be reached at jburch@bcrwealthadvisors.com.