Every business owner who has run a business for a while is bound to have some trust issues and bad experiences with employees.
If you are a first generation business owner, i.e., you did not inherit your business from someone else, your business journey will likely look something like this:
- Starting off as an Employee.
- Move on to Self-employed.
(Note: Those who work IN their businesses will remain here even if the business has employees.) - Move on to Manager.
(Instead of doing all the work yourself, you now hire people to do it and you manage them.) - Move up to Business Owner.
(You have put systems in place and now have Managers running the business for you. You are managing KPIs, i.e., working ON the business. Your business is maximized.) - Move on to Entrepreneur.
(You now have the knowledge to multiply your current business, whether it is more outlets, franchising, licensing… you are also have the knowledge to start other businesses.) - Finally, Investor.
(You now are able to identify opportunities to invest in as well as able to mentor others.)
A lot of business owners get stuck between Self-Employed and Manager, with their businesses stagnating at that level… and they are stuck because of trust issues. These businesses are not necessarily small, in fact, they could be multi-million dollar companies… the commonality is the owners are all heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the businesses.
You see, at the self-employed level, you only need to trust yourself (and probably your partners) to do a good job, which is easy. At the next level, Manager, you have to shift from trusting yourself to trusting others, which is where many fail to make the transition.
This is where developing great systems comes into the picture. Your focus should be on System Solutions over People Solutions.
By focusing on people solutions, the business owners are saying to themselves,
“If only I can get good people, I can then _______.”
or
“If only my team is ___________, I can then __________.”
By focusing on system solutions, they are asking themselves constantly,
“What can I put in place to allow my employees to produce consistent results without me?”
Let’s look at some examples…
It will be fantastic for any business to be able to hire absolutely trustworthy individuals all the time, especially for key positions that handle sensitive information… but it is even more fantastic and desirable to have a great system that keeps sensitive information secure regardless of who handles it.
It is fantastic to be able to hire a superstar salesperson… but it is even more desirable to build a sales system that produce consistent results even for an average salesperson.
It is great if you can hire a competent and experienced General Manager to take over your day-to-day running of the business… but it is absolutely better if you have completed development of your system such that a change in General Manager does not rock your entire business due to differences in personal management styles.
I can go on and on but I think the point is quite clear…
If you find yourself stuck doing too much, it’s time to evaluate whether your ability to transition is hindered by your ability to shift your trust to your team while building great systems to enable them to deliver the results you desire.
Need help to transition? Register NOW for our FREE Business Optimization Clinic, valued at RM750. We guarantee you will get at least 1-2 ideas you can implement immediately, even if you do not engage our services. Have a profitable week ahead!
The Familybiz Works Team
ps: Only 10 sessions every month for qualified business owners. Claim yours today!