Have you ever thought about that? What would happen if you stopped turning up to work? Would your business fall apart or would it carry on, despite a wobble here or there?
One of the differences between working a job and owning a business, is that you have to go to work if you have a job, while in a business you must create a system and train others to work for you.
I started a business because I love what I do but I soon found out that I spent a lot of time actually doing some tasks that I didn’t love at all, and some were very important tasks and they became the ones that had to be done late at night or early in the morning, because I kept putting them off.
And I can tell you, that took a lot of the fun out of my work and I started to forget why I had started my business in the first place.
So I had to do what I often advise my clients to do.
STOP!
I had to take a break, and look at my business from a different perspective, with fresh eyes.
And using a creative approach I could see that I needed help and I sought out ways to improve the way the business was managed, dividing the work into the things I wanted to do, the things I needed to do and the things I could get other people to do, people who were more skilled than me in those areas, allowing me to breathe again and improve the quality of the life I was leading.
Often when I talk about this with clients, they get all excited about letting go of the stuff they don’t like to do but then fear steps in. They don’t know where to start or how to go about this and one of the all time favourite excuses for anything and everything comes up: ‘I don’t have time for this!’
Listen, if you don’t have time now, you certainly won’t have it when you get busier. And you do want to get busier don’t you?
One new client even said, “I can’t fit in everything I need to do just now, I don’t know how I’m going to fit you in as well!” Because all he could see was him doing everything himself and no other vision seemed possible.
Do you think Richard Branson, or Steve Jobs or Walt Disney served their people alone?
Of course not.
And you don’t have to either.
But before we build this business we need to do one thing that many people find very difficult to do.
We need to let go.
Let go of what? I hear you say?
There’s a lot you can let go of, starting with all the emotions and fears that arise when we feel the need to do something different. And then you can let go of all the anxious questions that start popping into your brain, ones like:
Who am I looking for?
How do I recruit them?
How do I train them?
How do I pay them?
What if they don’t do as I want them to?
Because the real question is how can you grow your business if you continue to work like you’re doing now?
You’ve got to where you are right now because of the way you worked in the past, but to move forward, to grow your business, you need to do things in a different way.
Think about this; “What do you currently do that someone else could?”
What are the drudge tasks for you? The ones you hate, that you don’t feel expert in and the ones you’re overqualified to do?
Make a list of all of those, group them into compatible skills and attributes and that’s the start of the job description for the person you’re looking for, the person you need to help you take your business up a gear.
When you know what you can let go of, what you can delegate others, and fill that space with someone who frees you up to do more of the business work you enjoy, that will help you and your business grow.
It could be as simple as getting an online PA to schedule your appointments, maybe hiring an apprentice or you could be building a team that supports your growing business and its complex needs. It all starts with you deciding to let go and move forward.
And then, some day you can say, ‘okay, today, I’m not working – but my business is.’
What Would Happen If You Just Stopped Working?
Have you ever thought about that? What would happen if you stopped turning up to work? Would your business fall apart or would it carry on, despite a wobble here or there?
One of the differences between working a job and owning a business, is that you have to go to work if you have a job, while in a business you must create a system and train others to work for you.
I started a business because I love what I do but I soon found out that I spent a lot of time actually doing some tasks that I didn’t love at all, and some were very important tasks and they became the ones that had to be done late at night or early in the morning, because I kept putting them off.
And I can tell you, that took a lot of the fun out of my work and I started to forget why I had started my business in the first place.
So I had to do what I often advise my clients to do.
STOP!
I had to take a break, and look at my business from a different perspective, with fresh eyes.
And using a creative approach I could see that I needed help and I sought out ways to improve the way the business was managed, dividing the work into the things I wanted to do, the things I needed to do and the things I could get other people to do, people who were more skilled than me in those areas, allowing me to breathe again and improve the quality of the life I was leading.
Often when I talk about this with clients, they get all excited about letting go of the stuff they don’t like to do but then fear steps in. They don’t know where to start or how to go about this and one of the all time favourite excuses for anything and everything comes up: ‘I don’t have time for this!’
Listen, if you don’t have time now, you certainly won’t have it when you get busier. And you do want to get busier don’t you?
One new client even said, “I can’t fit in everything I need to do just now, I don’t know how I’m going to fit you in as well!” Because all he could see was him doing everything himself and no other vision seemed possible.
Do you think Richard Branson, or Steve Jobs or Walt Disney served their people alone?
Of course not.
And you don’t have to either.
But before we build this business we need to do one thing that many people find very difficult to do.
We need to let go.
Let go of what? I hear you say?
There’s a lot you can let go of, starting with all the emotions and fears that arise when we feel the need to do something different. And then you can let go of all the anxious questions that start popping into your brain, ones like:
Who am I looking for?
How do I recruit them?
How do I train them?
How do I pay them?
What if they don’t do as I want them to?
Because the real question is how can you grow your business if you continue to work like you’re doing now?
You’ve got to where you are right now because of the way you worked in the past, but to move forward, to grow your business, you need to do things in a different way.
Think about this; “What do you currently do that someone else could?”
What are the drudge tasks for you? The ones you hate, that you don’t feel expert in and the ones you’re overqualified to do?
Make a list of all of those, group them into compatible skills and attributes and that’s the start of the job description for the person you’re looking for, the person you need to help you take your business up a gear.
When you know what you can let go of, what you can delegate others, and fill that space with someone who frees you up to do more of the business work you enjoy, that will help you and your business grow.
It could be as simple as getting an online PA to schedule your appointments, maybe hiring an apprentice or you could be building a team that supports your growing business and its complex needs. It all starts with you deciding to let go and move forward.
And then, some day you can say, ‘okay, today, I’m not working – but my business is.’
How good does that sound?
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