Work on the Business, Not in the Business
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Work on the Business, Not in the Business

Work on the Business, Not in the Business



Work on the business, not in the business. I did a google search for that term and the number of articles that came up were crazy. There are so many people writing about this and it’s really a struggle for many small business owners.

 

We don’t necessarily trust people because we may have gotten wounded from trying to hire people before and then they didn’t work to their potential. They might have quit, or you may have lost money, or you maybe don’t trust them to do things as well as we do.

 

You are an owner and operator, and it’s not just the owner title that you carry. You are not a legitimate CEO yet, you literally are dependent upon the day to day tasks of everything within your business.

 

This can be tough. By working “in” the business every day instead of “on” the business from a 3,000 foot view, is not sustainable. It also prevents growth.



INC.COM 

 

Inc.com recently published an amazing article about how to work on your business and not in your business. What they are trying to talk about in this article and the question they are trying to answer and a question we may have as business owners, is who is ultimately responsible for taking your business to the next level?

 

The answer?

 

It’s simple. It’s you the owner, the manager, the executive team. They are ultimately responsible for taking the business to the next level. 

 

Another question to consider: Who is ultimately responsible for the day to day tasks?

 

In my company, it’s not me. I’m responsible for leading a team of people to accomplish those day to day tasks, but it’s not up to me to accomplish them on a daily basis.

 

The fact that I don’t have to be doing those day to day tasks, allows me to have more time for other things, like writing this blog. 

 

This allows me to do 3,000-foot view things that grow the company and make an impact in other areas, because I have a team of people taking care of the daily tasks.

 

“As the leader of your business you are responsible for spotting problems and delegating solutions.”- Inc.com 

 

You are responsible for setting goals and thinking about the future.

 

The only person who is genuinely motivated to grow your company, is you!

 

Every minute that you spend working on tasks that can be delegated, is a minute that you are not planning, strategizing and building the best business possible.



FIND YOUR SECRET TO WORKING ON THE BUSINESS

 

You may think to yourself that you just don’t trust people and that you can’t handle and hand off the day to day stuff to other people because no one is good as you. 

 

That’s probably true and I’ve been there. One of the hardest things that I did in my life, was when I stopped originating mortgage loans and had a team of people doing it. Quite frankly, they weren’t doing it as good as I was. 

 

It might candidly sound arrogant, but I was really good at it. Here I am now, almost 6 years later, and they are way better at it than I ever was.

 

Did you guess why that might be?

 

This is because it’s all they do. They just focus on that one thing and they become a master of that craft. Whereas when I was doing it, I was doing the day to day stuff, but I was also doing the IT work, the strategic planning, the business planning, and I was also the janitor. 

 

I was doing anything and everything. I was the owner operator and I was not a legitimate CEO. I had a profitable business, but it was stuck at that point. 

 

Once I went through the process of working on the business instead of in it, it just skyrocketed! 

 

It changed everything, including the trajectory of my company. As the previous article pointed out, I wasn’t spending minutes working on things that could be delegated, but instead, I was able to spend a lot more time on really “big picture” stuff, where my biggest impact could be made where my time or my value could have been made. 



Rebuttal 2

 

You may also feel like you’ve tried hiring some people, or you may have a staff of people, but you just don’t trust them. 

 

If you have a staff of people that you don’t trust, here’s a hard truth: that’s a “you” problem. You hired them and if you don’t trust them, then let them go. 

 

Trust is not something earned, trust is given. If you hired them and you’re not giving them their trust, then start to trust them. 

 

When I gave my staff over to those day to day tasks, even though I felt they weren’t doing it as well, it was okay. When I first started out doing it, I wasn’t doing it very well either.

 

You have to have grace for people to learn and to grow and set them up to grow and help them grow. You can’t expect them to perform things at an optimum level from day one. Eventually, they will grow to a place where they are even better than you.

 

The truth is, you can only do so much. There’s a glass ceiling for people who do not have a team. 

 

Consider these questions:

 

If your business is so dependent on you doing things day to do, how are you ever supposed to spend time with your family? 

 

How are you ever supposed to go out of town?

 

What happened to all that freedom that you were hoping for when you started your business?

 

You need a team of people that you can trust so you can actually have a life.

 

DELEGATING TASKS

 

Recently I went out of town for several weeks and while I was gone, my team broke records!

 

They were performing at levels that I never thought that they could perform at. I knew our goal was to eventually get there but I didn’t think they were going to do it while I was going to be out of town.

 

How many of you guys can’t even go out of town because you don’t trust your team to do those things? You’ve got to have a team that you can trust. You have to be able to delegate things to them because getting out of the place where you’re no longer working “in” your business every day, but working “on” your business, will help with grow and give you back your life.

 

THIS WEEK’S CALL TO ACTION: 

 

Get a stack of sticky notes. Every time you do something such as writing an email or making a phone call, write it all down. No matter how big or small the task is, write it down. It might seem tedious but just do it. 

 

Then, at the end of the week, divide your desk into 2 sides. One side of the desk is all the sticky notes of things that you absolutely have to do. The other side will include all the sticky notes for tasks that could or should be delegating to somebody else.

 

This will help you define and help you better understand what you can be letting go of, what you should be letting go of and what you could be delegating, as you’re doing it on a day to day basis.  

 

If you want to go to the next level, then try this:

 

Start writing it out on a different colored sticky note after the week is over, all the things you really want to do. All those desires that you have to grow your business, and all the ideas that you think are awesome that you just don’t have the time to do, and see if you can then add them to your side of the desk of your tasks. 

 

Think about it and how this could make your company grow. 

 

Questions?

 

Feel free to get in touch with us or leave a comment below.






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