I’M SICK OF WORKING IN MY BUSINESS

People start a small business. They work hard. What are they doing? This seems like an obvious question, they’re doing the work of their business. If it's a web design company, they're doing web design. If it's an office cleaning company, they're cleaning offices. If they're good at what they do and work really hard for many years, they may eventually be able to afford a modest retirement.  That is, if nothing goes wrong. This is what I call working IN their business.

If you want to be successful beyond simply growing your business and accumulating some capital, you will have to do things slightly different. You'll have to work ON your business with the aim of eventually hiring someone else to work for you.

When you're working IN your business and you're doing well, eventually you're going to have too much work. So you hire additional help.  Now, you not only have to handle the overload, you also have to train your new employee. But if you’re anything like me, you can't remember the details of how or why you do certain things. You’ve been doing the work for so long it’s now habit and you just do the job as it comes up. You struggle to explain the “Why’s” behind your work. In turn, your new employee has a difficult time understanding their job. And if the new employee doesn't work out, you’re stuck in your one-man, small business.

If you're working ON your business, you still start out doing all the work but with the aim of turning it over to someone else. You document everything. You keep lists of customers, leads, suppliers, contacts etc. You keep track of what you're doing and how you're doing it. You write down detailed procedures for everything as you do the work.

Now, when you become successful and have too much work, you can hire additional help. They will have your procedures, documentation, and instructions on how to do their job properly, thus allowing you to continue to increase your business.  This is what I call working ON your business.  Many people spend their entire life working in their business and not on their business.  Be conscious of your decisions and attract goal orientated, business- minded individuals into your business.  If you get the right people working around you, you can spend your time working ON and growing your business.