Tuesday 27 July 2010

More time, more money, more life... We all want that right?

How many of us start our own businesses because we get tired of giving everything we've got to a faceless corporate employer? A lot of us is my guess. And how often do we find that running a small business is even harder work than the 8-6 treadmill job that we left? Why does that happen to so many of us?

When we work for 'The Man' we have our set role. We go to work, we do our job and then we come home again. And the next day, we go back, the place is still there, pretty much as we left it. Except the cleaners have been in, the coffee is on, the bills are paid, the suppliers are dealt with, the customers are serviced... And the list goes on.

Someone coined the term Chief Everything Officer and I think that title's really quite apt for where many of find ourselves within a short time of starting our businesses. We have to do everything unless we either employ others to perform tasks or we outsource from day one. Not many of us want to do that. We try to keep costs down by doing as much of the actual work and administration as possible in-house. And of course, in-house means you and me, right?

So whether it's strategic thinking, business development or ordering paper clips, the decision and execution of the task rolls back to us. Eventually, we hire someone to help with the day to day. Usually admin. We let them order the paper clips. But hang on a minute.... We don't want someone with a stationery fetish ordering Post-It Notes by the truck load (is it just me that thinks new Post-It's smell great? Thought so... ). So just to be sure, we get them to come to us to have the order signed off before it goes to ACME Office Supplies. Err.. What? Yes, we may as well have done the job ourselves. Most of us are really poor at delegating to start with.

That said, I was the other end of the scale in my first business venture and that didn't work either. So as with all things we're talking about finding a balance.

But what else? We're overworked, rubbish at delegating and most of the 'systems' and 'procedures' are really just pretty pictures in our heads. If we're lucky!

And because everything is in our heads, others have to constantly come to us to know what to do, where to go, who to speak to. Can I give this discount or that refund?

How long can we keep working like this and is it any wonder that many small businesses lack a clear vision or strategy? Hands up all those small business owners that would like to take a long summer vacation but daren't because if they do, goodness knows what will happen...... That's what I thought.

So we end up asking ourselves how this happened. Why is this business, which I set up because I didn't want to be a wage slave, not working for me? Surely I should be the number one priority?

You can be if that is what you want! However it doesn't just happen overnight and you need to plan and gear your business to working for you from early on. Preferably from day 1.

Now, I'm not claiming to have the panacea to all ills, but my business partner Michael Christon and I, have just released a video membership programme called Personal Fulfilment Machine (www.pfmmember.com) which, surprise of surprises, helps us avoid or break the cycles we've spoken about. Putting you and I where we need to be and getting the maximum benefit of running a business!

Why did we create this programme? Because we fell in to the same traps early on. In fact, as you'll see in one of the early videos, Michael tells his own story of how he ended up ill and hospitalised after his business took over his life.

I hope you enjoy the videos. Please let me know your thoughts and feedback.

Regards,

Andrew

PS - We are taking on a select number of affiliates so if you'd like to know more, please get in touch.

9 comments:

  1. Nice post, a little salesy but good post.

    Working with business owner in various industries I have noticed most people don't want to start a business they want to make money doing what that are good at. The business is really a fancy grown up term given to their opportunity with the expectation of making a larger income.

    As we all know being a business owner dose not necessarily mean bigger income.

    Thanks for sharing. Have a great day!

    Joe

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  2. Hi Joe,
    Thanks for taking the time to comment. I'm trying to find a balance in writing posts at the moment. This one was a bit salesy but hey, I'm a saleman at heart and this is my one homespun online product.
    I agree with what you've said and I can't say I was any different when I first started. The admin drives me nuts but other than that, it's doesn't really feel like work I'm glad to say.

    Thanks again!

    andrew

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  3. Hi Andrew,
    you sure have provided food for thougt and addressed a subject a lot of home business owners (Chief Everything Officers {LOL} :) ) are dealing with.
    Will keep your membership in mind.

    Thanks for the post

    To your Success
    Yorinda

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  4. Hi Yorinda,
    thanks for stopping by. When I see owners of microbusinesses called CEO I always smile and that's why :)
    PFM is free to sign up to and there's a ton of useful info available. I hope you like it.
    Regards,
    Andrew
    PS - Right, now back to this proposal, call the bank, do tax return...!

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  5. Andrew, I've been in the network marketing industry for quite a while. I've seen many training by industry leaders on having a big 'WHY' in order to keep us motivated but rarely on practical, step-by-step business plan execution that will really help business owners put things in order. Do Michael talk about that in the video?

    Steven

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  6. Hey Andrew,

    You are right on about finding "balance". That is with anything in life and being a business owner, especially new to being one it can be very hard to find the "balance" that we need right out of the gates. Sometimes I find myself burning both ends of the candle stick as do many. I opted in to check out Personal Fulfilment Machine. Great to connect and look forward to networking!

    In Success,
    Howie Perks

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  7. Hey Howie,

    Thanks for coming by and also thanks for your facebook message. We did have some fun with the filming. Who said business videos have to be dull?!
    Regards,
    Andrew

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  8. Hi Steven - Apologies for the delay in getting back to you! So as regards the WHY... It's front and centre. It's all about why as a business owner you started out in the first place, your core values, ensuring that the plan from the get-go reflects that, and then automating your business accordingly. The idea is that you end up with a 'machine' that is delivering on all your why and value statements... Sign up for free and the videos within will give you a flavour of the content to follow.
    Regards,
    Andrew

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  9. Boy Andrew this brings back old memories when I had my consulting business. It really boiled down to the fact that i was trading time for dollars. I was still caught in the no time freedom trap, obviously the more I worked the more I made.

    Thanks for reminding me that I'm not in that any more.

    Michael

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