“I’m working my a## off… but I don’t have any profit growth to show for it. I feel further away than ever from the financial and lifestyle rewards I went into business for in the first place.”

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this from a frustrated business owner... Most of us go into business for two reasons:

1. Make more money (a greater share of the profits)

2. Have more control over our time (greater lifestyle flexibility)

Yet what happens when we first go into business? We’re working twice as long as when we had a job, and for half the money! And we’re the last ones to get paid – despite wearing all the risk and stress.

Why do we put ourselves through it? Because when you get it right, the financial and lifestyle rewards are unparalleled.

So what’s the answer? How do you achieve success?
The natural reaction is to want more time, so you can get to all those tasks you know are important, but you never have time to do. But if I waved my magic wand and granted you an extra hour each day, what would you do with it? Would you work on a strategy for
the next 12 months that will guide your actions and ensure you’re maximising your time? Would you train someone to take some of the heat off you? Or would you just try to do more ‘stuff ’?

Over my 20-year career helping business owners build better (and more valuable) businesses, and through my own small business journey, I’ve identified 7 key ingredients of success. Arguably the most important, and definitely the most controversial and challenging for business owners, is ‘Sack yourself ’.

You see, sometimes your biggest strength becomes your undoing. As the owner, you’re the single biggest critical success factor for your business… and you’re also the biggest barrier holding your business back.

Too often our business relies on us. There’s only one reason for that: us. We think the business needs us to survive. It’s a selffulfilling prophecy: believing that things couldn’t possibly run better without you there will trap you in it.

But, did you buy a business… or a job?
My idea of business success is getting the full lifestyle and financial benefits most of us go into business for in the first place. A big part of that is having greater flexibility to come and go as you please; and do the things you not only enjoy, but that your business benefits most from. Is that admin and bookkeeping? Probably not.

I argue the best way to achieve that is to build a business that’s highly sellable – because to be desirable to a buyer, it must have fantastic cash flow and profits, a solid customer base, and awesome people and processes in place so it doesn’t rely on the current owner. (Which, coincidentally, is the perfect business to own – so you won’t want to sell any time soon.)

This is the definition of have your cake and sell it too.
To create a business that doesn’t rely on you means you need to let go. Remove yourself from every aspect of the business. Effectively, you need to sack yourself.

In your place, you need a team of great people, with fantastic training, who know exactly what is expected for success, and have clearly defined processes to follow, within a supportive, high-performance culture.

The key is to harness the power of your people to achieve a better result than you could on your own (and to free you up to work more effectively and strategically).

With the right people and systems in place, your business can function without you. If you get it right, you can build a business that works better when you’re not there getting in the way.

I employ people smarter than me; people with specialised skills, different experiences and fresh ideas. My role is to lead them towards our shared vision of success.

Step back and focus on the areas you can add maximum value to the business. Give your people room to grow, develop and shine.

Some owners are so entwined with their business that they can’t imagine stepping back and getting their team more involved in driving it; they feel threatened at the very concept. But staying focused on your end goal of one day selling your business for a truckload of money – and in the meantime, being able to pick and choose the clients you work with, jobs you work on, and hours you are there, will help the transition from ‘me’ to ‘we’.

Contact Jason: HERE