What's the best change we can make for our businesses in 2019?
Recently, I had a chat with a friend who runs a relatively stable and successful small business. When asked about how he managed to grow his business from just a one-man show, he said it came down to being self-aware – knowing what you’re good at and what you suck at.
One of the most positive changes he did was that he stopped micromanaging and sought help for the things he was bad at. Nowadays, he spends most of his working hours networking with clients, reviewing proposals, looking at his finances, and managing his employees’ welfare instead of running around like a headless chook.
I think this is a fair, if not critical, point:
Let's work on our businesses, not in our businesses.
Maybe we’re sick of hearing this being harped to death. But much like how we need to eat more veggies and fruits and get 20 minutes of exercise daily, this advice gets pushed down to the bottom of the priority list, where it languishes for years as an unfulfilled business resolution.
But many business owners want it.
In asurvey of over 800 businesses by NAB, almost 60% said they want to be able to work on, and not in their business. It’s their second biggest gripe, just behind their hatred towards all the red tape they have to put up with.
At the same time, many business owners are multitasking. More thanhalf of Australia’s 2 million small businesses are one-person shows, and 25% have between 1 and 4 employees. Thus, it becomes more critical to work on our businesses instead of getting stuck in the daily grind because we are the only person looking out for our businesses.
Why should we work on our business?
1. We need to be looking ahead
Sure, our businesses may be running fine as they are with us running the daily show. But who is looking out for our business 12, 24, or 36 months ahead? Who is doing the planning, identifying risks and managing it properly and seizing new opportunities?
If our heads aren’t above water, then we’ll waste many chances simply because we couldn’t see it. Sometimes, we need to assess what we are not doing for our businesses because it is as important as what we do for our businesses.
2. We may not be the best person for the job
If we’re managing own social media, working on our accounts, or tweaking our own SEO for our website, are we really the best person for the job? Success in business can come down to having the right person doing the right task.
We may be saving money in the short-term by doing it ourselves, but it doesn’t mean we will get the best result for our business. If we’re doing the same thing over and over again without getting anywhere, it’s time to call in the experts or work on something else we’re better at.
3. Our time is valuable
In business, time is as important as money. Some may say it is more important because you can’t get back precious time, unlike money. Our time as the owner of a business or leaders of our teams may be worth $500 an hour, but our skills in say, graphic designing may only be worth $25 an hour.
A better use of our time would be to work on the business, nurturing important business relationships, finding new clients, mentoring our employees and fixing critical issues – all worth at least $500 an hour.
Outsource the things we’re bad at or hire someone to do it. If hiring full-time employees will strain our finances, there’s plenty of freelancers and service providers who can do the job better at a fraction of the price. With just 24 hours in a day, we need to make it count.
4. Our businesses need to run without us
We all tend to take our health, wealth and free time for granted until they’re not there anymore. But things happen in life, and they will in business.
Just like raising a child, our businesses need to get to a point where they can run smoothly when we’re not there. It’s like building our own insurance policy. If we feel that our businesses will sink without our physical presence or meticulous instructions, then it’s time to redesign our businesses because there will be times when we can’t be there.
5. It’ll improve everyone’s life
Once we let go of total control, our employees, partners, suppliers and even outsourced service providers will thank us for it. Our minds and bodies will also breathe a sigh of relief because we’re not shouldering all the burden by ourselves.
In 2019, we should take time to pause, reflect, assess and change things for the better. Peel ourselves away from the laptop, front desk, cash register, warehouse or meeting rooms for a while.
The best question we can ask ourselves is: What can we outsource or delegate so we can work ON our business?
What are your thoughts? Would love to read your comments below!
Steve Osbornedirector at Steve Osborne / Smarthinking
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Bryan Ruffin
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