I have talked to hundreds of people who own their own business. Most of them had the same exact problem, they worked way too much. They never had enough time in the day and usually never got to the important things that needed to be done to take their business to the next level. They worked too much working in and for their business and not enough time working on their business. This is a plan that will keep you stressed out, busy and poor. There are two things that must be done when you are in this situation.
The first one is to make systems for everything. You need to write a system for writing an invoice, a system for cleaning the bathroom, a system for opening and closing your business. When I was in business I wrote over 50 systems for various things, from how to pack a computer for shipping to how to make a phone call to a business. You also need to create the paperwork and checklist for these systems. We had a document for when a customer would leave a computer at our store, to documents for figuring out commission. Later on I moved the most popular forms online and customers and employees would fill them out at a hidden website. So this is what you need to do, systematize, document the system then create the resources (Documents, tools, equipment, etc.) to make system work. Having a system makes everything you do predictable and much easier. Buying a franchise is usually little more than buying a system with a marketing package, a high quality system will run your business, and is worth the tens of thousands they charge, but it is even better if you make it yourself. It took me less than two months of working after we closed to write all of our systems and support material.
Now that you have a system in place you need to leverage it. That brings us to part two, duplication/delegation. When you have a system in place it is much easier to train people, to measure there performance, and get them to exactly what you want them to do. People like to know exactly what is expected of them, most people like to have a system in place. Now that you have a system you can start to delegate things that you have always done. In many small business the owner does everything, they clean the bathroom, they do the banking, they service the customers. One thing I have heard often is that if you can find someone to do something that you do and they can do it 80% as well as you do then have them DO IT. When you have delegated to too many people that you can’t manage them, then promote someone to be a manager and delegate the delegating to them.
Think about what your company will look like if you doubled its size. Then think about what would happen if you doubled it every month. Without a system and with out delegation you will be sunk. This is the number 1 thing that keeps most small business small. You have to design and run your company as if there were 100 locations, what would you do different? If you own a small business and working without a system and delegating, 60 hours a week you really have a glorified job working for your “business”. A business is a system, it becomes viral, easy and fast, and other people do all the work, and you simply manage it.
For much more information here are some books you need to read on this subject.
HERE is another blog entry by one of my friends that expands on this concept. Please read it.
I am Jason Dragon and I hope you enjoyed this, subscribe to my blog, and tell others about it.