I know it is really frustrating to own your own business and have less flexibility and free time then when you worked for someone else. There can be many causes of this, but one that is fairly common is that we become the main “technician” in the business. Whether you have an accounting firm, delivery service, or counseling practice, if you are spending all of your time doing accounting, deliveries or counseling your business is probably suffering.
We need to be spending at least 20%-30% of our time working “on” our business, not “in” our business. Why? If we are a small business, what can take so long? The biggest problem occurs when you get behind on business management. Do any of these scenario’s sound familiar?:
“I only write a couple of checks per week. I figured I could put in an accounting/bookkeeping process later. Now it is the end of the year and I can’t pull the information together for my taxes or to renew my credit line.”
“I was working so much I didn’t have time or the need for marketing. Then when everything started slowing down and I could catch my breath, my cash flow dried up. I can’t afford to spend money on marketing.”
“I had to hire Mr. Z. The last guy quit without notice. My gut told me Mr. Z wasn’t the right person, but I had a hole. If I didn’t hire him, I would be working even more hours.”
“My new employee starts Monday. I can’t even stop long enough to figure out what to delegate. I wish we had completed those training manuals. Now half of my day will be eaten up on Monday to even get this new person started.”
If any of these, or a variation of these, sounds like you, these are issues that can be prevented by working “on” your business. The idea is to put together consistent business strategies before you need them so you will be ready when you do need them. Examples from above:
Set up an accounting system from day 1. It will be easy because there are fewer transactions and you will have time to work through problems and establish procedures that work for your organization.
Develop a marketing plan in advance and work on it consistently. By consistently marketing you can take out the major fluctuations in your volume (you won’t have the dramatic ups and downs) and you can plan tactics that require varying levels of time commitment to match your schedule.
If your desire is to have a “growing” small business, then you need to be recruiting all year long. This may be as simple as finding the sources for the type of talent you need to interviewing periodically throughout the year always looking for star players. By doing this, you have time to find the best people for your business and you have contingency plans if you lose an employee suddenly.
Documenting your processes and procedures is the surest way to enable other people in your business to operate independently and efficiently. Unless you want to be involved in each person’s job and be the sole trainer, you need to document your procedures. Plus, documenting these processes helps you to analyze them for efficiency as you go.
This may be great if you are just starting your business, but what do you do if you are already experiencing some of the consequences of not working “on” the business? You have to just start. You can’t begin everything at once because you are already working a million hours per week. But you need to start now to get control of your time. The first steps would be:
Set aside a consistent amount of time each day to work “on” your business. If that has to be only 15 minutes each day, so be it. Just consistently make it happen. Make a goal to work up to 30 minutes each day by week 3 and 1 hour each day by week 8. (Something like this.)
Pick one area to work on first. Which area that you are having problems with will give you a positive impact to your business quickly?
Develop a plan of how you will work on this area during the allotted time each day.
Do it relentlessly until it is complete and in a maintenance mode.
Remember – when you can begin working on a second area you have to keep working on the first area that is in maintenance. If you don’t, all of your work is for nothing.
As you add time to your daily schedule for business management you will be able to maintain the areas of business management consistently which over time will allow you to invest back into your business in resources that will reduce the time required for you to be the main person working “in” your business.
Working "On" Your Business! - To learn more about this author, visit Sue Miley's Website.
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Sue Miley
(Visit Sue's Website)
Sue J. Miley, MBA, MA, LPC is a business
coach for small business owners and
independent professionals. She is also a
Licensed Professional Counselor. In
addition to her private practice in
coaching and counseling, Sue serves on
staff with River Community Church as the
Executive Director of Administration and
Counseling. She has twenty years of
experience starting businesses and
divisions with an entrepreneurial
approach. If you enjoyed this article and
are interested in more articles by this
author and other free resources please
visit the website.
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