The dilemma for entrepreneurs is, they see a new opportunity around every corner and lack the discipline NOT to chase every rabbit. The solution for them would be to establish ONE thriving business before pursuing the next “big” idea or enterprise.
The small business owner suffers a similar dilemma. They may not be looking to start several new businesses like entrepreneurs. However, they fail to find and fix the root cause of problems in their established business before moving on to the next job or business growth opportunity. Both have a “priority of focus” issue.
Others Weigh in on the Dilemma
Michael Gerber’s book, The E-Myth, exposes this dilemma with entrepreneurs and ALL small business owners.
Author Tami Mathisen wrote a Kindle book titled The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma that also offers up solutions to help entrepreneurs obtain the freedom they seek.
Interestingly, for dedicated freedom seekers, Tim Ferris’s book The 4 Hour Work Week focuses on The Pareto Principle, named after economist Vilfredo Pareto. The Pareto Principle specifies that “80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes.”
Considering this principle, most disorders in business, i.e. errors, employee miscommunications, are caused by the same problems. This means the business owner’s dilemma is very FIXABLE.
Yep, we believe a four-hour work week is possible. However, from our experience, this only occurs with the systematization of a business. And implementing a continual improvement process.
To be fair, another road to the four-hour work week is hiring more and more managers to handle the disorder caused by a lack of systems. Unfortunately, the downside to this practice is less profit for the business owner. Whereby, the owner is still not free when managers come and go, whereby training new managers starts all over again.
Overcoming the Dilemma
We have been effectively addressing the entrepreneur’s and business owner’s dilemma for over twenty-five years. Since overcoming the dilemma ourselves, we now have the experience to help many business owners find the freedom they seek.
Therefore, we focus our training on BUSINESS TOOLS that identify the top three common frustrations keeping owners from their goal of freedom from daily mundane business operations.
In short, training “owners” on how to OWN their business, rather than just having a very tough job.
Most business owners have a gift or talent for one or more of the following:
- Sales
- Management
- Technical
Make no mistake, inexperience in management, or an unwillingness to delegate systematically, will CONTINUE to negatively impact a small business once it’s operational.
For this reason, owners should turn their focus on the area keeping them from their goal of freedom. Of course, ALL three gifts/talents are important.
However, Business Process Management in an established firm must be THE focus, at some point, to reach your goals, and let freedom ring.
Did I mention? Great systems work!