Small business owners know we don't have much room for error. Our customers are depending upon us to do what we say we will do. Winning the business in the first place is hard, and it is very smart not to lose business because of lapses in quality. The way to stay in business is to deliver consistent quality to the customer. Dale Crownover got into a quality improvement program because a customer suggested he do so. At Oregon Log Homes, logs are hand- stripped and crafted to specifications drawn on computers. To guarantee near perfection, Mike builds each home on his lot first. Laurie Snyder won the business of L.L. Bean because they love her quality. At PING Golf, perfection is the corporate mantra.

Topic for Discussion: How do you know if your product is good enough?

Answer: The customers will tell you. However, the best business owners improve the product even when the customer is already happy. You must keep asking yourself: "How can I make this better?" You can never rest; you can never stop thinking; you can never stop improving. The minute you do, someone will take your customers away from you.

Henry Chin told us that Ziba Design is good at what they do because they all strive for perfection. That is the quality they're pushing in themselves and for the company.

The Anglican Rev. John Wesley based an entire theology around a doctrine of Christian perfection and an entire denomination evolved as a result. Yet, we certainly all fall short of being perfect and the quantum physicists among us know that there is an inherent chaos deep within the fabric of things. So we are relegated to perfect moments -- flashes of insight or bliss or knowing.

Topic for Discussion: We grow up learning the basic comparative analysis -- good, better, best -- but what is the best? Can anything ever be perfect?

Answer: Sohrab Vossoughi, founder of Ziba Design, would answer, "No, you know it can be done better." At Ziba, they challenge themselves to constantly take the next step on the road to perfection. Just as they know it will never be totally and in every way perfect, they know they can always do better. This is a subject near and dear to the heart of our executive producer, Bruce Camber. He has made a study of the physics and theology of perfected states for over 25 years. He found that throughout all of science and all religions, each in some manner shares the three conditions that define the continuum of perfection.

This is what he has found:

• The most simple perfection is order; here there are continuity conditions.
• A higher perfection is defined by a relation and here that relation is experienced as a symmetry.
• A transformative perfection is within real time; it is a dynamic moment that is experienced as harmony.

Along that continuum, the possibilities approach infinity for higher or transformative perfections. Or as your Mom always said, "There is always room for improvement."

You think about it: Is your business the best that it can be? Is it getting better with every product or service it delivers? Have you created an environment in your company where your team constantly strives for perfection? How do you measure quality? What quality controls do you have in place now? What quality controls would you like to have?