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Are you an “Off Season” Entrepreneur?

Guest post by: Jonathan Goldhill

Article Overview: seasonal businesses, cash flow quadrant, working on business, business plan, working in the business,

Are you an “Off Season” Entrepreneur?

The problem with most seasonal businesses is that the owners and managers of these usually small businesses focus on the "big picture" issues in their business for only a few months in the "off season". The fact is that these "off season" entrepreneurs are strategic business owners for only a few months of the year. When spring arrives they get so busy in their businesses they lose sight of important strategic issues necessary to focus on if they're going to grow or improve their businesses. The remainder of the year, they get "stuck in the weeds" being busy with activity. Don't confuse busy-ness with business. In making this point, I have had to hit some of my clients in the back of their head with their own shovels, figuratively speaking, of course. To be successful in business, you must work "ON" your business not just "IN" your business. And, you must do this all year round! If you only focus on working "ON" your business during the off-season how will you maintain the momentum you created while working on your business? Activities like strategic planning, tactical marketing plans, management skills training, systems improvements and developments are activities that require year-round focus if you want to build a team that will help run the business/department for you so you can get some time back for yourself.

To illustrate this point, I recommend people read Robert Kiyosaki's book Cash Flow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom. Kiyosaki, best known for his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad stresses what he calls "financial literacy" as the means to obtaining wealth. He says that life skills are often best learned through experience and that there are important lessons not taught in school. Formal education is primarily for those seeking to be employees or self-employed individuals. In order to obtain financial freedom, according to Kiyosaki, you must be either a business owner or an investor, generating passive income. Kiyosaki speaks often of what he calls "The Cashflow Quadrant," a conceptual tool that aims to describe how all the money in the world is earned. Depicted in a diagram, this concept entails four groupings, split with two lines (one vertical and one horizontal). In each of the four groups there is a letter representing a way in which an individual may earn income. The letters are as follows.

E: Employee - this person is working for someone else.

S: Self-employed or Small business owner - this person owns his own job and is his own boss.

B: (Boss) Business owner - this person owns a "system" of making money, rather than a job to make money.

I: Investor - this person is spending money in order to receive a larger payout in the future.

In what quadrant do you reside? I have met with very few truly Investor quadrant small business owners. But, they do exist among us. Most seasonal business owners are stuck in the "S" quadrant. Some are "B" quadrant entrepreneurs, who periodically or occasionally get pulled back into the "S" quadrant activities, while some are "B" quadrant only during the off season.

To become a "B" or "I" quadrant entrepreneur, you must have that as a vision and set goals to reach that vision. So, you will have to resist getting busy during busy times.

We are living in scary times. Most small businesses are experiencing slow sales, and are still feeling a bit anxious, uneasy, out of control, and struggling through the uncertainty. This overall feeling of fear and uncertainty among small businesses is sending record number of clients to us over the past few years to seek help, hope and effective strategies to increase sales, profits and free time.

They are simply searching for greater confidence and clarity to combat their uncertainty. Many people are unsure of what actions to take, if any. They feel vulnerable but are trying to tough it out themselves ... trying to be a lone ranger. While commendable, there is no need to suffer alone. Nothing shows real confidence and strength like being able to ask for some help, support and a different viewpoint. Nothing feels better than having real clarity, an updated game plan, and greater confidence and results.

Review and update your business plan (or get one!), and try to control what you can and make positive adjustments. Stop driving yourself crazy. Stop being reactive to the daily news ... instead, plan your work and work your plan. Stop stressing yourself out over things you cannot control and focus on those things that you can control. Stop focusing on what you don't want and focus on what you do want. Finally, stop focusing so much time and energy on the problems and more time and energy on solutions that make sense for your business.

But, don't be an off-season entrepreneur.

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Article Tags: business plan, cash flow quadrant, entrepreneur, seasonal businesses



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