It’s interesting that you see this phrase used so often during the holiday season. Because this is the season that most feel they are time starved – lacking the time to get everything done. This is what started me thinking about your time as a business owner. A business should be more of a lifestyle than a job!
I want you to think about that for a minute! A job is something people do to make money and it usually requires a strict schedule of working hours. Although in the new post covid virtual work world that is more and more not the case. A business is an asset that you, the business owner decided to build using your cash and sweat equity. Make no mistake that building that asset is going to take time and a lot of energy. But you are or should be in control of that time and how it is spent.
My wife had a saying she would throw at me whenever I forgot this. “No one ever dies saying I wish I spent more time at the office.” When your business is in its early infancy stage you will have a little less control due to the financial risks involved. But you have control none the less.
Managing your time effectively can change your life. If you allow others to steal your time, then you have lost control. Even customers understand you have a life outside of your business and will more than understand your schedule might not allow for that call that they are trying to book during your son or daughters’ basketball game.
Workload
A study by www.gallup.com found that small business owners work as much as 60 hours per week. That’s 50% more than the average employee. Now I am not saying you should work less than your employees because that usually isn’t the case at least not until the business is in its mature phase. But when you need time off to vacation or just recharge you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. There is no reason you should not be able to cut out early on occasion to do something for you or the family you love. I had a routine when my business was growing where I split my time between the office and home. I would go into the office and work more normal hours, but I would then break so I could have time for dinner with the family. After dinner many nights I would work at home to complete what needed to get done but I always tried to be there to share the days happenings with the kids and the wife. My wife was right I never regretted taking that time to watch my children grow and the business never suffered at all.
Delegation
No this isn’t a dirty word, and your staff are not all idiots. I was complaining one day at a business lunch about my shipping and receiving department and I had a CEO of a larger firm tell me that if they did the job as well as me then they would be the CEO. He was right! I didn’t hire an MBA graduate to run the shipping and receiving department – I hired a shipping manager for $75,000 a year. The problem was mine; I expected too much and gave too little of myself to the person I hired.
In an article from www.americanexpress.com they summed it up well – “If everything in your company depends on you, it can only grow as large as your personal capacity allows.” The problem is when you are starting out you are a solo entrepreneur, and everything is done by you. As you grow things are moving too fast to start training people, so you still do it all yourself because the result the team is producing is just not up to par with your standards.
Delegation starts long before you hire your first person. How can that be you say? While you are developing the business you personally determine the best way to get things done and what the result should be. Take the time to template the process so when you do hire someone you can easily train them on your way of doing things. Spend some time before they start to orient them to the company and your way of thinking. Listen to feedback because they might just have a better way of doing things. It’s important to remember that there are tasks in the workplace that you should not be spending your time on. Delegate them to people who are better at them than you.
The Team
Nothing is more powerful than a team of people aligned around a common goal. If you can surround yourself with people smarter than you who buy into your vision for the company, you are well on your way to finding more time for yourself and growing a company with a great future. The team will do the things you should not be doing in the first place, and they will make you proud of the results. Your mission from here is to develop strategies that will allow the business to thrive into the future and provide your team the opportunity to grow in their careers. Nothing will kill the spirit of a company quicker than stagnation.
So, take the time this holiday season to think about your business and your life. Are you living your best life? Has your business taken control of you, or do you have control of it? A business has a personality of its own. It needs to be fed with work and money, it is demanding, but it’s yours. You are in control of its growth and its cultural development. Think it over and make sure the business delivers you the life you were hoping for when you started it.
The team here at TEC Resource Center wishes you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season and a year of improved work-life balance. Now Get It Done!