If you are self-employed, what I am about to say to you now may not apply to you. Because you might like pottering about at home, working when you choose, and for whom you choose. You may have got used to your income being lumpy and not mind. Because you enjoy the freedom it brings. You are your own boss, and leaving aside various uncertainties and the fact that you do everything that needs doing, its great. Really, its great. And if that is you, I'm happy for you. Somedays that's me too!
But what happens to most of us - if we are lucky, or successful, or both - is that the business begins to take off, to fly. We are delighted to discover we are doing rather well. The marketing is paying off, word of mouth too. We start to grow organically. We can no longer do everything ourselves, so we farm out some of the admin to a friend of a friend who needs something part-time.
And take a holiday, tentatively - because we have already allowed the business and the clients to become over-reliant on our own personal contribution, and it won't run without us. It may tick over, just, but it loses direction, momentum, cashflow or worse - we allow our clients/staff to phone us 24/7 including when we are on holiday. Groan. Those bloody mobiles! Ruin it on the beach for the rest of us too, ya know.
In the course of chasing business and keeping the clients happy, our own admin and accounts systems, such as they are, start to fail and break down. The business is in crisis, and often for the very best reason, that we are growing and doing well.
You can lurch on in this in-between mode for quite some time, managing on the goodwill of a few mates to help you out. But it gets tiring so you decide to get a bit more grown up, but really no-one cares like you do. The clients don't relate to everyone else like they do to you, because you give the best service of all your people, no-one quite sees the details which make the difference and no-one's following your way of doing it. You have surrounded yourself with a bunch of rugged individualists, all doing it their way! And that's not their fault by the way, you haven't yet trained them to follow the system. Er, because you haven't created the system yet.
Blimey. We're stuck now. We can't get smaller, or bigger, or give up. And by this time, you have no life, sometimes you are bothered by anxiety, sleeplessness and indigestion from the stress. Is it worth that? Is that why you went into business? No!
Time to get the manual out and put ourselves through just a little bit of short-term pain for the ultimate goal of more profit from less time. Less of your own that is, and more of everyone else's - making money for you by following the systems you created in the business you set up.
Again I say, if you are a one-man band working alone, this will not apply to you, although a little system here and there won't go amiss for you folks either.
But if you are an entrepreneur wanting to create a business which will generate income for you over and above what you need to draw, and an asset base which you could sell later on, then listen very carefully I shall say this only once. Actually I say it most weeks, one way or the other, hoping you will twig on eventually.
You've gotta create a system around what you do which will enable you to step out. You've gotta analyse what you do and do well, and replace yourself in that role, You've also got to take note of what goes undone because you don't like it or find it a chore, because someone else has got to do that bit too if the business is to thrive. Just look at what's piling up or being ignored on the To Do list if you want a clue there.
If I look at your accounts, I can tell what you are good at and what you are not. Selling yes, debt-collecting no, invoicing no, filing no, automatic marketing no, client service yes, finance no, finding solutions to your clients problems yes, closing a deal sometimes, getting more money out of your existing clients maybe, consistent customer experience no, spending money yes, increasing your margins no, cashflow planning no, working long hours yes.
I guess you know what you are good at, don't you? Could you teach someone else to do that, and make a margin on their time? How would that enable you to grow your business, and what if you took on others to do all the other bits? Would the end result be a stronger business?
Remember this - hire to the role, not to the personality of the person who comes along to take that role.
Then you could you open another branch following your exact same system you have perfected at head office. And another. Would you enjoy teaching other excellent motivated and energetic people to deliver your product or service? If not, find someone who would.
Your job will become to be paid to think, motivate the team and direct the business. And to make that product or service greater still, all the time. Imagine rolling out your business on a far grander scale than you ever have before. How does that feel now? Woo hoo!
This might seem difficult and perhaps even painful, I am sure. It may be easier to find another business which permits this more readily from the outset, and extract yourself from the one you have now, or sell it, as I did. E-Mything from within is always messy, not impossible mind, but tricky. Depends why you are in it. Because you have created a business around what you love to do, and its robbing all the joy out of it now, but you can't find a better way yet. Or because you want to make some serious money. A straight choice.
Now might be a good time to mention that the only way to make any real money in business is by using this model. I think you know that too.
As I say, this doesn't apply if you are just self-employed and happy to stay that way.
But if you are an entrepreneur with a vision of building something much bigger and sexier (and easier) than what you have now, get in touch and let's do it together. Or start reading The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and let me know when you get stuck.
Those of you in this predicament who have not got around to reading this book yet, let me explain the title. The E in E-Myth stands for Entrepreneur. It's about why most small businesses fail and what to do about it. It's the key. It's the way out of your mess.
I spent Sunday with Lynne Franks, PR Guru, and her SEED Network at a very inspiring SEED Experience Day in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, which is a pretty little village I used to live in for about 6-9 months in the mid Seventies. Lynne has a home nearby and had found a local Abbey for our workshop day which provided an inspiring, soulful space and a great veggie lunch!
When you work for yourself there is no-one telling you what you must do in the course of your working day. You decide. Hooray! That’s one of the freedoms we have achieved by electing to work for ourselves.
One vital thing to remember about working for yourself is that you are the most important asset of your business and anything you invest in yourself will return to you multiplied many times. The reason for this is that without you, your business is nothing.
I am excited about meeting and working with Lynne Franks on Sunday, and finding out more about her SEED network which is about The Feminine Way to Create Business.
