Feel Like a Slave to Your Business
Feel Like a Slave to Your Business
Please do not be offended by these very direct and frank statements. You must realize I get paid to help my clients “face reality” and then hold them accountable for the changes and goals they desire. Facing reality is a critical step owners must take to begin to build a better business and a better life.
Go ahead, ask yourself the following questions and be brutally honest with yourself:
• Do I often question, “Why do I have to do every darn thing myself”?
• Am I still working too hard and making too little?
• Am I trapped working “in” my business instead of “on” my business?
• Do I ever wonder if business ownership is truly worth the time, effort, headaches, hassles, and sacrifices?
• Do I feel trapped on a treadmill, moving faster and faster, but going nowhere?
• Do I constantly face frequent interruptions and repetitive questions from my staff?
• Do I go home many nights feeling mentally and physically drained?
• Do I dread the drudgery of facing and solving the same issues and problems each and every day – the burden of re-creating the wheel time and time again?
• Do I daydream about regaining my sense of freedom, joy, passion, and peace-of-mind?
• Do I have anxiety about drowning in projects, problems, deadlines, crises, meetings, employee issues, unanswered voicemails/ emails, customer complaints, administrative trivia, and on and on?
• Do I feel like a master juggler with too many balls up in the air and dreading they will soon begin hitting the floor?
• Am I forever chained to a phone, computer, email, or pager?
• Am I tired of having customers rely on me personally for services, solutions and satisfaction?
• Am I fed up with missing family time, family events, and making other personal sacrifices on a semi-regular basis?
• Do I crave more free time to do the things that matter most to me?
If you answered, “yes”, to a majority of these questions, your approach to business management is broken. No matter what industry you are in, you should not be a slave to your business! If you are, you have it backwards. Your business should serve you and your dreams. It should give you greater freedom, not less. In fact, your business, properly designed, should function practically without you, not because of you. It should run predictably and automatically whether you are in the office or not, in the store or not, out in the field or not, on vacation or not. Your business should not depend upon your presence, personality, problem solving and perspiration for its daily survival. If so, your business does not work, you do!
Bottom line, you should run your business; it should not run you, your family or your life. Your business should work harder so you don’t have to. It should be systems-dependent and not owner-dependent or expert-dependent for its success. It should have its own heart, mind, and soul – it should not steal your vital organs and spirit!
Stop for a moment and think of the consequences. If everything in your business flows through you and is dependent upon you, then you are restricting dramatically the growth and profits of your company. As a single human being, there are natural limits to the amount of work, transactions, problems, and decisions that can flow effectively through you in a given day. Stop being a bottleneck or clog. Otherwise, you will continue to restrict the potential of your employees and business and ensure your persistent exhaustion. Stop missing out on greater personal freedom, money and happiness.
You need to face reality, admit to certain problems, and then resolve to change your thinking and approaches. In the next issue, we will focus on the five most common causes of business slavery: (1) technical tendencies, (2) busyness (3) ineffective leadership and delegation, (4) inadequate or missing business systems, and (5) escalating business complexity.
Feel Like a Slave to Your Business - To learn more about this author, visit Jonathan Goldhill's Website.
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To begin, let me ask you some revealing questions. As a business owner, can you walk away from your business today for one or two months and come back to find it operating smoothly and profitably? Can you even escape for two weeks? Have you ever had a work-free vacation? If your answers are “no”, you don’t have a successful business, you have a glorified job in which you are trapped! You don’t have an effective business system; you are the business system! In a large sense, you are a prisoner of your own success.
Please do not be offended by these very direct and frank statements. You must realize I get paid to help my clients “face reality” and then hold them accountable for the changes and goals they desire. Facing reality is a critical step owners must take to begin to build a better business and a better life.
Go ahead, ask yourself the following questions and be brutally honest with yourself:
• Do I often question, “Why do I have to do every darn thing myself”?
• Am I still working too hard and making too little?
• Am I trapped working “in” my business instead of “on” my business?
• Do I ever wonder if business ownership is truly worth the time, effort, headaches, hassles, and sacrifices?
• Do I feel trapped on a treadmill, moving faster and faster, but going nowhere?
• Do I constantly face frequent interruptions and repetitive questions from my staff?
• Do I go home many nights feeling mentally and physically drained?
• Do I dread the drudgery of facing and solving the same issues and problems each and every day – the burden of re-creating the wheel time and time again?
• Do I daydream about regaining my sense of freedom, joy, passion, and peace-of-mind?
• Do I have anxiety about drowning in projects, problems, deadlines, crises, meetings, employee issues, unanswered voicemails/ emails, customer complaints, administrative trivia, and on and on?
• Do I feel like a master juggler with too many balls up in the air and dreading they will soon begin hitting the floor?
• Am I forever chained to a phone, computer, email, or pager?
• Am I tired of having customers rely on me personally for services, solutions and satisfaction?
• Am I fed up with missing family time, family events, and making other personal sacrifices on a semi-regular basis?
• Do I crave more free time to do the things that matter most to me?
If you answered, “yes”, to a majority of these questions, your approach to business management is broken. No matter what industry you are in, you should not be a slave to your business! If you are, you have it backwards. Your business should serve you and your dreams. It should give you greater freedom, not less. In fact, your business, properly designed, should function practically without you, not because of you. It should run predictably and automatically whether you are in the office or not, in the store or not, out in the field or not, on vacation or not. Your business should not depend upon your presence, personality, problem solving and perspiration for its daily survival. If so, your business does not work, you do!
Bottom line, you should run your business; it should not run you, your family or your life. Your business should work harder so you don’t have to. It should be systems-dependent and not owner-dependent or expert-dependent for its success. It should have its own heart, mind, and soul – it should not steal your vital organs and spirit!
Stop for a moment and think of the consequences. If everything in your business flows through you and is dependent upon you, then you are restricting dramatically the growth and profits of your company. As a single human being, there are natural limits to the amount of work, transactions, problems, and decisions that can flow effectively through you in a given day. Stop being a bottleneck or clog. Otherwise, you will continue to restrict the potential of your employees and business and ensure your persistent exhaustion. Stop missing out on greater personal freedom, money and happiness.
You need to face reality, admit to certain problems, and then resolve to change your thinking and approaches. In the next issue, we will focus on the five most common causes of business slavery: (1) technical tendencies, (2) busyness (3) ineffective leadership and delegation, (4) inadequate or missing business systems, and (5) escalating business complexity.
Feel Like a Slave to Your Business - To learn more about this author, visit Jonathan Goldhill's Website.
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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