Often a business owner gets trapped in their business: the pressures of servicing clients, managing your team, dealing with external compliance pressures, administration, billing and cash flow. Like a tidal wave, it becomes hard to keep your head above water.
Most successful business owners spend time both ‘in’ and ‘on’ their businesses.
Adopting an ‘on’ the business perspective allows you to consider broader questions, such as:
- What problems and pain points is the business facing?
- What factors can I influence, versus others that are market or externally generated?
It also provides time to plan and set a course to navigate tricky issues, and meet broader business objectives.
Here are some tips to help you spend more time working 'on' your business:
- Cultivate the team around you to ensure a spread of responsibilities and accountabilities i.e. every decision is not dependent on you.
- Establish core business systems and processes that are not dependent on any one individual.
- Physically and mentally take yourself out of the business and onto the business by:
- seeking external, independent advice on strategy and/or business value;
- exploring your industry and its drivers via networking and knowledge updates;
- undertaking professional development; and
- setting aside some reset and ‘me’ time, away from the business.
Get a zest for the industry and the sector you’re operating in and allow that to be the lens through which you look back into your business, rather than everything being driven from inside the business, at your own desk.
Related resources
Managing staff for high performance
Business systems and processes
Training and professional development advice
How to have a healthy business and a healthy life
This blog comes from our ebook: How to overcome 6 business pain points. If you need support dealing with pain points in your business, we’re keen to help you. Feel free to get in touch by calling 02 6360 0360 or 02 9893 1803 for a confidential, obligation-free discussion.
