Confusing quantity with quality

If your restaurant finds itself in a particularly congested part of town, you’ll likely see a lot of foot traffic. Which means that even if you serve sub-par quality food, or if your service is dismal, you’ll still likely draw a crowd.

And if you write a post on your blog about a particularly trendy topic, you might get thousands of shares and impressions and clicks. But that doesn’t mean that anyone really cares about what you have to say.

It’s easy to confuse volume with value. Because as long as there’s a paying customer, curious reader, or wayfaring consumer, you can tell yourself that you must be doing something right.

Of course, once the hype dies down and the crowd moves on, you'll inevitably lose your lucky streak. Even restaurants in Times Square close down. 

The flip side is also true: investing in a quality asset over time can reap huge dividends long term. But that takes a commitment to consistently look for ways to improve on what you're offering. 

If you're stuck confusing volume with success, you'll surely miss out.