Over time I have been able to identify a fair number of common concerns among business owners. Here in Northeast Wisconsin where I live, the common ground among them is not surprising. The common thread of culture and lifestyle, for the most part, exists in the majority of business owners. Many commonly express the same thought; “Business is different than I thought.” The conflict of balancing life and business is real and most struggle terribly with that.
That requires some defining.
One of the biggest things I find among business owners is the issue of time. They thought by owning their own business; they would be in better control of their time and therefore have more of it. Almost all are working 60 or more hours a week. Many are working 75 hours a week. Most are working 6-7 days a week, and that is those business owners who have successful businesses.
To be blunt…their business is owning them instead of them owning their business. Additionally, everything they dreamed of achieving by being a business owner might be happening except for one of the most important ones – the time they want to spend away from the business enjoying what they value most.
So what can they do about it? How about if I told you the solution, pure and simple, is to GROW THE BUSINESS?
Not grow the business by leaps and bounds like some business development, heavy sales or marketing coaches and consultants would have you do. Grow the business in a safe, holistic nonsensical way that not only improves performance and profitability but also reduces the time you the business owner are required to spend in your business. I can’t do much for those who want to voluntarily work 7 days a week while putting in over 100 hours of time, other than to greatly increase their profits and business value. What I can do is help you increase revenue, increase profit and increase the net value of your business while reducing significantly the amount of time you have to spend there.
To do that you should follow these steps:
- Commit to wanting to grow your business
- Commit to changing how you run your business
- Commit the time to make the change
- Commit to learning and doing
This isn’t some pie in the sky process. The steps are logical, common sense and result improving. What comes next is that while engaging in steps 2-4, you learn, experience, plan, and execute the plan. You also measure the outcome of the plan and make adjustments based on those measurements and not your gut.
The bottom line remains your bottom line. Building your business with part of the goal being to give you more time for those activities important to you takes a 4 step investment of time and money. Following those steps will help your company be more successful and give you more time for the other more important things in your life. When that happens your Business Will Be Like You Thought it would.