During the month of May, I’m focusing on small business owners. Today’s challenge is: don’t wait until you’re ready!
What am I talking about? Here’s a great example, you can’t wait to hire when you are “ready to hire.” Know this, your business is a living, breathing entity just like you. While you may not be ready for a lot of things, that doesn’t mean your business is in the same boat.
When you started your small business, you were innovating, iterating, and working hard to simply establish your business as a revenue-generating company. You were trying tons of new ideas and you were putting in the hours to figure out what worked. Now, at some point in your life, your business isn’t going to be your focus every minute of the day. As you get to be 45, 50, 60, 65, most people reach a point where they want to do other things with their lives. Maybe you want to cut back to 4 days a week or 3 days a week. You think to yourself, “I’ve earned it.” And yes, you have no doubt.
But what happens in a small business with only a few employees with the owner being the primary operator, and that primary operator starts to step out of the business on a regular basis? Does the business grow? No. The business actually levels out and may even decline.
At some point, you may want to sell your business. Or at least give it to a family member, right? Do you want to sell your business as it declines or give it to your kid when it has started to have revenue problems? Of course not. So how do you have a strong business and live your life?
The secret is to add another strong operator while the business is growing and while you are still working full time in the business. If the work you do primarily is sales calls, hire a salesman. If it’s production, hire someone to produce the widgets. Bring someone in who can grow the business. This will allow you to TRAIN them while you and your business are in the prime stages. You can then pull back, they can take over, and you can live NOW. Your business will keep growing or at least remain stable, and you have a business that is worth something should you want to sell it or hand it off.
Think about it this way, at some point your kid is going to want to drive. And when that time comes, as scary as it may be, a piece of you will be a little excited that you are no longer the taxi service. It doesn’t mean you love your child any less, it simply means it’s time to give them the freedom they are ready to accept. The same holds true with your business. Don’t stunt the growth of your business out of fear.
Let us help you if you are unsure of how to make it happen!
Be Legendary!