Newsletter - April 15, 2010

Work On Your Business Not In It

There are several reasons why people go off on their own and start a business. Some see the chance for financial success. Others want the freedom of being their own boss. Still others just want to prove something to themselves or others. But, anyone who starts, or buys a small business gets to the point where they ask, "Why did I ever try to do this?" And, even after achieving the success, it's easy to reflect back on the process and wonder, "How did I ever do that?" In the end, the most meaningful question is, "if I had it to do all over, would I do it again?"

The concept of working "on your business, not in it" isn't my own. It belongs to Michael Gerber, who wrote about it in his best-selling book The E-Myth Revisited. I'll touch on the concept here, but I strongly suggest you read the book - you'll never look at your business the same again! Four (of the many) questions Gerber asks are:

1. How can I get my business to work, but without me?
2. How can I get my people to work, but without my interference?
3. How can I own my business, but still be free of it?
4. How can I spend my time doing the work I love to do, rather than the work I have to do?

Small businesses get started because the owners have a new idea, or something they want to accomplish. Not all entrepreneurs with an idea, however, know how to run a business. They are often well versed in a couple of disciplines, but not all of the ones necessary to really make their business work. So, they do what people normally do. They focus on the things they are comfortable with and don't look closely enough at tasks they know they should do, but are "hard."

At some point in time small business owners become consumed by the business - and maybe the possibility of losing it. This fear is compounded by the fact they have to do every important thing themselves because they do not have the necessary infrastructure. If this is where you are - if these are the four questions you are asking yourself - you need to change the way you're looking at your world. You don't own a business - you own a job!

If you can sit in your office, put your feet up on your desk, and think about the "big picture," you're working on your business. If you are the one who builds, and rebuilds, and tweaks, and re-tweaks the direction of your company, you are working on your business. If you define your job as being the person who prepares your business for growth, you are working on your business. If you are doing what you set out to do one, or five, or 25 years ago when you started your company - and having fun doing it - you are working on your business. If you are not doing these things, you own a job. It may be a high paying job and your family may appreciate you all the more for it, but it's still a job - and you are working IN your business, not ON it!

The ultimate goal of working ON your business should be to have it function as well as possible without you. In other words, it's an investment! You're probably never going to get this investment to the point where you can treat it like a common stock or a corporate bond. But, your objective should be to get as close to that point as you can. If you do, you will own something that is valuable to someone else and you the have the option to sell it. If all you own is a job, don't expect people to line up at your door to buy it.

Your objective should be to get your business to the point where it is NOT dependent on you! Develop your employees to do things without your involvement. Figure out how to give your customers what they want, without having to go through you. Have your employees take care of the day-to-day tasks, freeing you to focus on the more strategic issues. Build a model for your business that ensures things get done right at the first point of contact.

Getting your business to this point is not going to happen overnight; it takes a conscious, sustained effort and time. If you want to make it happen, you have to make it happen! You must put the processes in place to support it. Any individual who has built a successful, mature business knows how it happened. If it didn't start with a clear vision of what the "finished product" would look like, the architect certainly developed one early in the process.

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