Most small business owners think they are running a business, but in fact have simply bought themselves a job, and try as they might, they cannot achieve the freedom they thought would be part of the deal.
The business is totally dependent on them being there, doing everything, have a finger in every pie, being the ‘go to’ person for every customer and every staff member.
Some will tell you they can take holidays from their business, but they are deluding themselves. Ask how long they can take a break WITHOUT mobile phone or email. Not long.
There are many reasons for this; sometimes they are hung up on the process not the outcome. ; no-one else knows how to deal with stuff; they don’t have the time to teach anyone else; they don’t trust anyone else to do it the right way; they’ve trained the customers to only deal with them – and that’s just for starters.
There is a solution – but first they have to get out of their own way and change their mindset.
The process is not the be all and end all. The outcome is.
Focus on the result or the outcome, not the process. The whole purpose of a business is to produce a result that has value to the person paying for it. If you focus on the work, you risk missing the bigger picture. When you focus on the result, it will direct the work towards the outcome you want.
Once you are getting the desired outcome, you can analyse the work. Break it down into the smallest steps, examine the standards you expect at every step. Determine the timing for each step – how long and when. Write it down so anyone can follow it and know what to do – even when you aren’t there.
You now have a system. You have systemised the process which will give you the result or outcome you want.
Now you can delegate the whole thing to someone else, confident that they will do it exactly as you would.
Then you can sit back and do what you should have been doing all along: measure and track the outcomes and free yourself to work on the business I the areas where you are most valuable.