You complain about the time you have to spend at your business. No one else can get the job done. But you have great pride in the job that does get done. In fact your business is you personified and is the source of a great deal of satisfaction to you. At the same time it is all very scary. If you don't bring your A game every day, things don't get done, and the money does not come in. How much more time do you have to give the business?
Is there any doubt that someday you will not be able to spend this time at your business? Is there any way to tell when that might be? If you were not at your business so much, what would happen? If you are always there, how do you know what will happen?
If you were managing not doing, would you have to spend so much time at your business? Think about how that might work. Could you find someone else as good as you to train? Even if you found the talent, the attitude would not be there. Deep down – you would not really like having someone else around who could do the job the way you do. Could there be some ways to arrange your tasks so others could complete them. You are starting to plan. Write it down. Share the writing with colleagues. Revise the writing and start testing your assumptions. You are beginning to execute your plan.
Most owners are so wrapped up with the immediate projects of their business, they do not plan. The primary thing an owner needs to plan is the transition of the business from the owner performing the tasks of the business to managing the employees who perform the tasks of the business. Then the owner needs to become less of a manager so that the owner is not an integral part of the business. This is difficult but rewarding. Not only will it make your business more valuable, think of the time you will save.
Your business does not need more of your time, it needs more of your planning.
